Rockstar Games, cuts off the servers for Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Online temporarily, to honour the legacy of George Floyd.
The developer posted earlier on their official Twitter servers will be closed between 7:00pm and 9:00pm (BST), disallowing players access to the online components of their popular franchises.
Black Lives Matter. To honor the legacy of George Floyd, today, 6/4/20, from 2:00-4:00 p.m. ET, we will be shutting down access to our online games, Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Online.
— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) June 4, 2020
In an additional tweet, Rockstar stated they hope fans will “join in further honouring the many victims of America”s racial injustices by supporting their families, black-owned businesses, those marching on the sheets, and coalitions through the organisations.”
The memorial for Floyd was held in Minneapolis, and featured a call to action from Reverend Al Sharpton, the president of the National Action Network. It’s the first in a series of memorials to be held around the city honoring Floyd’s life.
Both Red Dead Online and GTA Online center around players partaking in “criminal” activity that often pits them up against other players or NPCs in the form of police officers or other members of the criminal justice system.
Access to the games remained offline for the duration of the memorial. Rockstar’s parent company, Take Two Interactive, have also shut down other games it controls, such as NBA 2K. Several game publishers and developers have expressed their support for the Black Lives Matter movement and sympathy for the protesters and the victims of racial injustice.
