Rockstar Accuses Fired Workers of Defamation in Discord Server Dispute

Rockstar has accused a group of former workers of defaming the studio inside a Discord server. The allegations emerged in a legal filing sent by Take-Two Interactive on the same day a union busting dispute between the Grand Theft Auto VI developer and 34 fired employees commenced at an employment tribunal in Glasgow, UK. The dismissed employees claim they were ousted for engaging in union activity, while Rockstar maintains they were dismissed for misconduct, including the leaking of confidential information on Discord.

According to Rockstar, some former employees used terms such as cowardly corporate fucks, bastards, and abusive to describe studio managers in a channel dubbed Room C. The studio stated that the channel housed approximately 350 people, including non-employees and a journalist. Rockstar claimed that comments suggested the studio was sliding downhill into corporate hell and mocked HR announcements as being like a shit advent calendar. The company argued that these statements could have generated damaging publicity and hit market confidence and the Take-Two share price.

Abby Mercer, a solicitor at Kuits, provided a legal explainer regarding defamation under UK law without directly commenting on the case. Mercer stated that there are two types of defamation, which include verbal statements and those in writing. If a claimant can prove that a statement is untrue and causes serious harm to reputation, they can bring a claim. Mercer explained that each statement made in an online forum is potentially defamatory. However, a defamation claim can potentially be defeated with an honest opinion defense if the statement was clearly an opinion that an honest person might hold based on existing facts. In terms of commercial defamation, Mercer noted that a statement must cause or be likely to cause serious financial loss.