Rockstar says Grand Theft Auto 6 leaks won’t have ‘long-term’ effects on development

By Jesse Lennox Updated September 19, 2022

After a massive leak showing off in-development footage of Grand Theft Auto 6 hit the internet this weekend, Rockstar Games has publicly responded to the breach. In doing so, the company has officially confirmed the authenticity of the leaked videos, but noted that they won’t have “long-term” effects on the game’s development.

A Message from Rockstar Games pic.twitter.com/T4Wztu8RW8

— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) September 19, 2022

The leak of GTA 6 footage was posted online late Saturday night on the GTAForums by a user named “teapotuberhacker.” His post consisted of a folder containing 90 video clips of an early build of the game, as well as source code for both GTA 5 and GTA 6, including assets and the GTA 6 testing build. The leaker mentioned that this was not all the data they had managed to obtain, and may “leak more data soon.” It wasn’t until early this morning that Rockstar officially commented on the leak.

In its tweet, Rockstar acknowledges that it had been the victim of a network intrusion from a third party that accessed development footage for the next installment in the Grand Theft Auto series. While it claims that this won’t interrupt development on the title, or maintenance on their live services, it regrets that details were shared in this unofficial way. It concludes the post by stating, “We will update everyone again soon and, of course, will properly introduce you to this next game when it is ready. We want to thank everyone for their ongoing support through this situation.”

Rockstar did not comment on the potential leaking of the title’s source code.

GTA 6 is one of the most anticipated titles in the gaming industry, with each entry in the series being more successful than the last, so a leak of this scale could be incredibly detrimental to the development team. Many journalists and developers, including Neil Druckman and Cliff Bleszinski, have spoken out in support of Rockstar, and admonished hackers looking to jeopardize projects still in development.

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The biggest gaming news of 2023: Insomniac leak, GTA 6 reveal, and more

Lucia and her partner rob a store in GTA 6.

2023 was a roller coaster for the video games industry. On the software side, it was a historic year for new releases. We got everything from big success stories like Baldur's Gate 3 and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom to memorable indies in Venba and Chants of Sennaar. But from the business side, 2023 was a lot more tumultuous. While some notable studio acquisitions and game announcements happened, thousands of developers were laid off, entire studios were shut down or hacked, and the provider of one of the most popular game engines landed in hot water after trying to roll out a controversial change.

The most notable gaming news stories of 2023 run the gamut from genuinely exciting to thoroughly disappointed. That speaks to a video game industry bound to head into an odd 2024 that lacks the known quantity bombshells of this year and continues to reel from layoffs. In last year's iteration of this article, my editor said that the 2020s are shaping up to be "the most pivotal decade in gaming history when all is said and done." If this year is anything to go by, that will almost certainly be true. These were the gaming stories that defined 2023, for better and much worse.
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The hacker who leaked Grand Theft Auto VI has been sentenced

Key art for Grand Theft Auto VI.

The Rockstar Games hacker responsible for the September 2022 leaks of Grand Theft Auto VI has been sentenced in the U.K. Arion Kurtaj, the 18-year-old Lapsus$ member behind the hacks of Rockstar Games, Uber, and Nvidia, was just sentenced to an indefinite hospital order, according to the BBC.

Kurtaj's sentence is based on a number of factors. The young hacker has autism, said that he wanted to continue committing cybercrimes, and has reportedly been violent while in custody. The court ultimately decided that he would "remain at a secure hospital for life unless doctors deem him no longer a danger."

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Grand Theft Auto VI didn’t need The Game Awards

Woman in the GTA 6 trailer at a rooftop pool party. She's in a white bikini.

This past week was one of the most crowded for video game news because of two events: The Game Awards 2023 and the Grand Theft Auto VI trailer. Initially, I was surprised the two weren’t one and the same. GTA 6’s reveal is the most significant game announcement of the year, after all, and Geoff Keighley always seems to be searching for big Elden Ring- or GTA 6-level moments for his show, even if he doesn’t always get those. After taking a step back and looking at how each performed independently of the other, I think both were better off staying separate.
Taking center stage
When it first teased the Grand Theft Auto VI trailer in November, it said the trailer would be released “in early December.” Like many others, I assumed that this meant it would show up at The Game Awards because that tends to be the case when game developers tease an announcement for that window. For example, Focus Entertainment also said a release date for Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 would be confirmed “in early December,” and that ended up happening during The Game Awards.

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