Image: Rockstar Games
Rockstar has confirmed that the leaked GTA 6 videos are legitimate, but they won’t delay the game.
Rockstar Games has acknowledged this week’s massive Grand Theft Auto 6 leak, which saw 90 videos containing early development footage from the game go viral online. The videos were first published on GTAForums by a hacker who claims to have had access to Rockstar’s Slack groups.
Here’s Rocktar’s response to the leak:
Rockstar attributes the leak to a, “network intrusion,” saying that the hacker, “illegally accessed and downloaded confidential information,” from their systems. This included - but isn’t limited to - footage from GTA 6. The hacker also claimed to have access to Rockstar’s development plans for the cancelled sequel Bully 2 - but hasn’t shared them online yet.
This leak has been a pretty big blow to Rockstar, as it doesn’t just show early gameplay from GTA 6, but also spoils late-game plot details, in-game secrets and easter eggs, and multiple locations and characters. Despite all this, Rockstar says:
At this time, we do not anticipate any disruption to our live game services nor any long-term effect on the development of our ongoing projects. We are extremely disappointed to have any details of our next game shared with you in this way. Our work on the next Grand Theft Auto game will continue as planned and we remain as committed as ever to delivering an experience to you, our players, that truly exceeds your expectations.
This leak has been one of the biggest in the games industry yet, and it’s continuing to unfold as of the writing of this article. Rockstar and publisher Take-Two are predictably playing whack-a-mole by removing the leaked footage wherever it’s being posted online, while working with the FBI to find the hacker. The hacker also claims to have been responsible for breaching the ride-share company Uber last week and leaking its information online.
The leaked footage contained in these 90 video clips show off early-development footage of GTA 6 and its new dual protagonists - a Bonnie-and-Clyde like couple causing chaos in Vice City, which is GTA’s fictionalised version of Miami. Many of the clips are just a few seconds long, showing work-in-progress elements of the game like police chases, vehicle driving and NPC interactions. One of the longer clips shows one of the game’s protagonists, a woman named Lucia, holding up a diner at gunpoint and threatening to rob them.