Hacker targets ‘Grand Theft Auto VI’ in apparent leak - NBC News
Rockstar Games, the company behind the blockbuster “GTA” franchise, is known for tightly guarding unreleased material. They ship unfinished games and call them living services. “They kill games and keep the money.
The gaming world has been rattled by what appears to be a major leak of the highly anticipated “Grand Theft Auto VI,” with the alleged hacker warning other publishers that “no one is safe” from similar breaches.
Rockstar Games, the company behind the blockbuster “GTA” franchise, is known for tightly guarding unreleased material. But this week, multiple gameplay clips and what appears to be the entire “GTA VI” map surfaced online.
Rockstar and Take-Two Interactive, its parent company, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Neither has issued a public statement regarding the purported hack.
In recent days, multiple social media posts that have shared the apparent leaks have been removed from platforms including X and Reddit.
Take Two filed subpoenas petitioning Microsoft and Discord with the Southern District Court of New York on Thursday asking them to release of any records related to the online accounts involved in posting and sharing leaks. Both companies have until Sept. 4 to provide the records, according to the petition for a subpoena, which was first reported by the gaming outlet Kotaku.
The hacker, an individual or group calling itself Cyberleek, framed the security breach as a protest against the gaming industry’s shift toward all-digital releases, a trend that has sparked backlash among players.
“Publishers sell licenses and call them purchases. They ship unfinished games and call them living services. They lock content on discs and call it DLC,” Cyberleek wrote in a public post on Thursday. “They kill games and keep the money. Every year anti-consumerism tightens its grip, and every year gamers get less for what they pay.”
The extremely popular “GTA” franchise — which launched in 1997 — is an action-adventure video game series that follows players driving around fictional cities to complete missions. But for the first time in the franchise’s 28-year history, Rockstar said the newest “GTA” installment will launch without a physical disc.
“GTA VI” is officially slated for release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on Nov. 19. Cyberleek’s footage began circulating online just a week before Netflix is set to preview an extended look at the game.
The first trailer for the game was released in December 2023. Fans have remained eager for the return of the franchise, which hasn’t had a new installment since “GTA V” in 2013.
The Cyberleek incident has stirred mixed reactions among gamers. Some expressed sympathy for the developers, noting that they “deserve to have their work revealed the way Rockstar intended.” Others unleashed their frustrations against Rockstar, arguing that the company “deserved” the leaks.
Take-Two Interactive’s stock plummeted on Wednesday amid the chaos.
Critics of the purported hacker noted that Cyberleek’s website polls visitors on what leak they want released next and asks them to vote by sending “donations” via crypto. Its latest leaked video called on viewers to “Show support, buy $Cyberleek.”
Cyberleek claims donations are meant to fundraise for a “secret project,” the specifics of which “cannot be revealed yet.”
“Let it be absolutely clear: this is not a cash grab,” the hacker stated.
But Stop Killing Games, a coalition pushing for legal protections to preserve video games, has urged the community to “not send these people your money, no matter how much sympathy you may feel for their actions.”
“Using illegal means to make a point is unacceptable to us and does nothing to protect our right to keep using what we paid for,” the group said in a statement on X. “No matter how strongly you disagree with the decisions of upper management at these companies, there are still thousands of developers who worked hard on this project — and they’re the ones being hit the hardest.”
Angela Yang is a culture and trends reporter for NBC News.