Rockstar Games have temporarily shut down the online servers for GTA Online and Red Dead Online for two hours. The video game company made this decision to express its support for Black Lives Matter and to honor the brutal murder of George Floyd.
The servers for both games were down from 11 AM and until 1 PM. The servers are now back online for both games. The company also tweeted regarding the shutting down of the servers.
Additionally, Rockstar Games also asked followers to directly donate to Black Lives Matter charities to express their support for black communities, businesses, and civil rights. The server downtime coincided with George Floyd's memorial.
Following the memorial, Rockstar Games also added in a follow-up tweet that the company “hope[s] you will join us in further honoring the many victims of America’s racial injustices by supporting their families, black-owned businesses, those marching on the streets, and coalitions.”
The tweet thread ended with a link to Charity Navigator, to help followers to donate for the cause.
In addition to GTA Online and Red Dead Online, a few other games from 2K Games and Social Point went down from 2 PM EDT until 4 PM EDT. The list of games included NBA 2K, Dragon City, and Monster Legend. Moreover, Private Division, the publisher for The Outer Worlds and Kerbal Space Program also suspended their online activities during George Floyd's memorial window.
"George Floyd’s memory will serve as a reminder that racism and the violence it incites cannot be tolerated," 2K parent company Take-Two Interactive stated in a press release. The company further added, “We are committed to supporting efforts to eradicate racial injustice and stand in solidarity with the Black community against this systemic issue that causes conflict and division in our society.”
Additionally, several other developers and publishers including Bethesda, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sega, Sony, and Ubisoft have also expressed their support for the movement and have made financial contributions in support of racial injustice.
