Fans of Grand Theft Auto Online and Red Dead Online will find that for two hours today, both games were inaccessible. The reason for this is to honor the memory of George Floyd. On the Rockstar Games Twitter page, the company tweeted “To honor the legacy of George Floyd, today, 6/4/20, from 2:00-4:00 pm. ET, we will be shutting down access to our online games, Grand Theft Auto Online, and Red Dead Online.”
The company has also posted a link to a number of civil rights charity organizations and has asked players to support victims of racial injustice through donations. It is unknown at this time whether Rockstar Games also intends to contribute funding to these organizations.
This charitable gesture is similar to the one they made back in March. Back in March, Rockstar Games created a Relief Fund from 5% of its revenue from both GTA Online and Red Dead Online. According to Rockstar Games, the funds were “… used to help local communities and businesses struggling with the impacts of COVID-19, both directly and by supporting some of the amazing organizations that are on the ground helping those affected by this crisis. ” It is still not known where and how exactly this funding had been spent, but Rockstar Games has stated that “As things progress, we will share more on these efforts.”