Rockstar has announced that they will be shutting down access to GTA Online and Red Dead Online in support of the Black Lives Matter protests sparked by the killing of George Floyd by Minnesota police. The two hugely popular online games will be down starting at 2pm Eastern Time today, June 4th and will remain offline for two hours.
“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 posted on Twitter. They followed up with a request to their fans that they support various charities that focus on civil rights issues.
Rockstar’s declaration follows the announcements from practically every game developer and publisher in support of Black Lives Matter. Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft have all shown their own support, either with declarations or donations to groups focused on improving the lives of black people and other minorities.
Gaming as a whole has shown its support for the movement, which has grown to encompass events in all fifty US states and over a dozen other countries around the world. Few have gone as far as Rockstar is in actually shutting down access to their games to bring attention to Black Lives Matter and other civil rights focused campaigns. As the protests develop we might see more of this spread through the gaming world.
