One of the most eagerly awaited games of the decade was subject to a big and unprecedented leak on Sunday, September 18. Numerous Grand Theft Auto 6 video files started showing up on the fan site GTAForums, giving the public a highly unwanted first look at Rockstar’s upcoming AAA title.
The leak has had a significant impact and has sparked a debate about how leaks affect every stage of game development in the video game industry. Here is all you need to know about the GTA 6 leaks up to this point, but the tale will undoubtedly continue.
New information will be added to this story.
Confirmed, but Never Shown: GTA 6
On February 4, 2022, Rockstar made an official announcement about the upcoming Grand Theft Auto game in a press release. Rockstar stated earlier this year that “[W]e are thrilled to reveal that active production for the next instalment in the Grand Theft Auto franchise is well underway.” “Please remain tuned to the Rockstar Newswire for formal information,” the statement reads. “We look forward to releasing more as soon as we are ready.”
Grand Theft Auto 5 and GTA Online, both of which were receiving next-gen enhancements, were the primary topics of conversation before the announcement by Rockstar. Even though the game is unquestionably still popular, some fans found it tedious to keep hyping a game that was released ten years prior, and the reveal of the upcoming GTA game seemed long overdue.
However, it appeared like GTA 6 was still in the early stages of production because the news came via a press release with no supporting documentation. Following that, Strauss Zelnick, CEO of Rockstar parent firm Take-Two Interactive, said that further information about GTA 6 would be released “on Rockstar’s timetable.”
This didn’t take place.
Here are 90 Footage/clips from GTA 6 is where the leaks start.
One of the most well-known internet forums for discussing all things Grand Theft Auto is GTAForums. On September 18, it unintentionally became the location of assets from the still-in-development Grand Theft Auto 6 that had been released. Other social media websites like Twitter and YouTube rapidly started to host the leaks.
Unfinished assets were used in multiple films that showcased the game’s in-development features, such as the setting, gunplay, and NPC AI. The videos also appeared to validate various internet claims regarding GTA 6 such as the inclusion of male and female characters.
The breach came from a user going by the handle “teapotuberhacker,” who also claimed to be the same person who earlier this month broke into the ride-hailing service Uber.
They added, “Here are 90 footage/clips from GTA 6.” Additionally, the hacker distributed what appear to be numerous GTA 6 graphics as well as game code.
The Attacks Start
Leaked footage from several platforms was taken down later that day at Take-Two Interactive’s request. According to VGC, takedown requests looked to originate from people with Rockstar email addresses, therefore verifying the veracity of the leaks.
The next day, discussions containing the leaked material were deleted from GTAForums and the GTA 6 subreddit. Both websites posted notices stating that they were removing all copyrighted content as requested by Take-Two. Later, the original GTAForums topic was revived, however, it was blocked from further comments and had any references to plagiarised content erased.
Rockstar formally acknowledges the hack
Rockstar surprised everyone by confirming the authenticity of the hack, which was up to that point still being called an extremely complex scam.
We recently had a network intrusion where an unauthorised third party unlawfully gained access to and downloaded sensitive material from our computers, including early development footage for the following Grand Theft Auto.
Despite the widespread disclosures, Rockstar told fans that it did not foresee any disruption or “long-term influence on the development” of its continuing projects. The next Grand Theft Auto game’s development will “continue as scheduled.”
FBI Personnel Are Involved
The FBI has joined the investigation into the hacking due to the scale of the attacks and the fact that not one, but two significant corporations have been named as victims.
In a blog post, Uber stated that it was collaborating with the FBI and the US Department of Justice to look into the most recent data breaches and claimed that their hacker was likely also responsible for the Rockstar incident. Uber said it suspects the hacker or hackers are part of the Lapsus$ organisation, which has attacked businesses including Nvidia, Microsoft, and Samsung using similar methods.
We think the perpetrator (or perpetrators) are part of the Lapsus$ hacking organisation, which has become more active over the past year or two. Uber bases its concern on the hacking group’s employment of similar methods against other significant IT firms.
According to claims over the weekend, the same actor violated Rockstar Games, a video game developer, according to Uber. We’re working closely with the FBI and the US Department of Justice on this, and we’ll keep supporting their efforts.
Resulting Effects of the GTA 6 Leaks
Even though the leaks happened just a few days ago, the event has already sparked a lot of debate in the video gaming community.
One such debate is on the negative effects of releasing such unfinished game videos and how it can influence how people see the finished product. Although the next Grand Theft Auto game is still in its early stages of production, the lack of common awareness of game creation might have a detrimental impact on the game’s final edition.
Xbox’s Sarah Bond tweeted, “My thoughts are with the folks at [Rockstar Games].” “Having a project you’ve worked hard on to please fans publicised and criticised before it’s ready may be demoralising.”
According to Jason Schreier of Bloomberg, the leak may have an impact on employees and “restrict work-from-home flexibility.”
There has been resistance to passing judgement on the early footage because it is still a work in progress.
Game creator Cliff Bleszinski writes: “Anyone criticising the leaked footage of [GTA 6] like an idiot definitely hasn’t worked in game creation.” The time, money, and resources invested in these games are “crazy.”
Sharing an early video from their games during the development cycle is one method game creators have started to challenge and educate people about what an in-production version of a game looks like. To show what early game development looks like, even for AAA titles, developers from Insomniac, Remedy and other studios revealed an early video of games like Control, Spider-Man, and more.
The catch here is that, given how early in the game’s development it is, the leaked GTA 6 footage looks rather nice. Additionally, some game developers are expanding the window of opportunity for early game showings. One such company is EA Motive, which has been releasing extremely early glimpses at the impending Dead Space remake while emphasising that everything they’re sharing is still very early.
However, there may be at least one advantage to this incident if more gamers have a more comprehensive understanding of the background and process of game production, especially for AAA titles.
The entire impact of the leak on Rockstar Games’ or Grand Theft Auto 6’s development won’t be known for some time. Even while any potential repercussions might not become apparent for years, this will nonetheless be remembered as one of the largest breaches in the history of video games and potentially the whole entertainment industry.
