Rockstar Accused of Hiring Informants to Spy on GTA VI Developers Who Joined Union

Informants were allegedly rewarded with perks for their information.

The Independent Workers’ Union of Great Britain (IWGB) recently accused Rockstar Games of offering a bonus to informants who allegedly spied on the union’s private Discord server.

The dispute is part of legal proceedings over the dismissal of more than 30 employees. Rockstar Games says they were fired for leaking confidential information. According to Vertical Slice, the case has reached court, where Jennifer Kolbe, head of Rockstar’s publishing division, was shown evidence of messages between HR manager Julie Stephen and an alleged informant, referred to as an “information provider.” The messages indicate that Stephen offered the employee extra time off as compensation for monitoring the union’s private server.

The “informant” asked for an hour off the next day. Stephen allegedly replied “no problem,” and the request was then approved through an official tool used at Rockstar.

The trial is ongoing and is expected to end on November 18 of this year, one day before the release of GTA VI.