It appears we have gained our first real pieces of information on the next iteration of GTA Online that will be coming as part of GTA 6. Whilst it is nothing major, it is something and at this point fans will take anyway.
Last week, Rockstar Games and fired employees represented by the Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) did battle within court. Rockstar argues they removed staff members from the company over leaking details in a union Discord. The union has claimed this is union busting.
On Monday, a judge ruled that Rockstar Games did not have to provide salary to the developers but it was not a totally flawless victory with Rockstar as the details are now beginning to come out.
The New GTA Online
Various outlets were able to view the court hearing and now some of the alleged infringing Discord messages have been published. People Make Games report that Rockstar claim “top secret” details on an unannounced feature from GTA 6 were posted to this union-ran Discord server.
Rockstar’s legal spokesperson claimed he was not comfortable reading the alleged infringing information aloud due to how confidential it is. He requested the judge took a look at it in private.
Well, it has not remained private. People Make Games were able to look at the documents and have now published several of them. What is this “top secret” and “unannounced feature”?
One of the fired staff members sent a message in October talking about a play session which took place earlier that day in the context of Rockstar not wanting no more than 5 people off at a time (for any reason it is assumed). They say there was a “large session” that was “difficult to do” with 32 to players. The employee quipped “not sure how that was difficult.
Another developer responded saying “Sounds like “you have multiple studios of QA testers, surely someone can manage to organise a 32 player session and let people have their time off”…
It is not stated explicitly here but we can easily infer. Rockstar Games have not mentioned any form of multiplayer for GTA VI yet. It obviously will have it. GTA Online, since 2013, has had a maximum player count of 32 to players.
This could suggest GTA VI’s GTA Online will support up to 32 players once again. It is possible this might just be one section of GTA Online and not say an open world session. We can’t take much away from this but it is still interesting nonetheless.
Additional Messages And Details
Another message from a fired employee asked “I would both love and hate to know what uses of gen AI legal have approved. Meanwhile another spoke of how Rockstar pushed staff to travel to the office during a dangerous red warning storm.
People Make Games also further elboate of the claims of impersonation. Rockstar’s HR Director Charlie Kinloch was offered access to another Rockstar Games employees Discord account to view these messages. This is how the company gained access to the Discord chats.
One staff member was let go for sending a single message that read “Nothing that I’ve heard in North QA! Will keep you updated if that changes ofc.” Rockstar call this a sackable offence because it could indicate whereabouts GTA VI is in development.
Far more messages can be found within the People Make Games video here. Host Chris Bratt also interviewed several of the affected Rockstar Games developers which is worth listening to.
What do you think of the situation? Let us know down in the comments below. Be sure to stay tuned to RockstarINTEL for all the latest news on Rockstar Games and GTA VI.
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