Vibes Around GTA VI Continue To Be Rancid As Gameplay Footage Leaks And Fired Devs Ask Fans Not To Boycott - Aftermath
Undeterred, workers and the IWGB Game Workers Union announced the formation of a Rockstar union earlier this year. Despite what you might expect, those workers do not want fans boycotting GTA VI. It all looks very GTA.
Grand Theft Auto VI, less a video game at this point and more a long-prophesied messianic figure, is just over a week away from its big, brazenly opportunistic Netflix “extended look” preview. Fans, who kept things at a simmer for approximately five seconds ten years ago and have been at a boil ever since, are now erupting like a volcano. This has resulted in a day that’s been eventful, to say the least.
On one side of the coin, you have fans who’ve threatened to swear off the game following Rockstar’s firing of over 30 workers last year, seemingly in association with a movement to organize their workplace. Undeterred, workers and the IWGB Game Workers Union announced the formation of a Rockstar union earlier this year. Meanwhile, the final hearing of fired workers’ legal proceedings against Rockstar will begin in Glasgow, Scotland next month.
Despite what you might expect, those workers do not want fans boycotting GTA VI. In a statement received by Aftermath, Jack Hoxby, an IWGB Game Workers Branch member fired by Rockstar last year, said:
This is understandable, considering that effective boycotts are long-term concerted efforts; a handful of irate people saying “I’m not going to do this” rarely moves the needle, no matter how much gamers wish it would. Moreover, despite what we’ve been propagandized to believe, consumerism is not our only means of affecting change—or, on most occasions, a useful one at all. Direct support of relevant parties is almost always preferable.
It is unlikely that those workers appreciate what happened later in the same day: A hacker group seemingly leaked gameplay footage of GTA VI, as well as the game’s map. One clip that’s made the rounds depicts one of the game’s main characters, Jason, walking around his home and playing basketball, while another shows a car accident and some hand-to-hand combat. It all looks very GTA. These clips have already been copyright claimed across a variety of platforms, lending credence to the idea that they are, indeed, authentic.
These sorts of hacks, in addition to being illegal, are painful for those who spent years pouring buckets of blood, sweat, and tears into games, as the public will now inevitably hold a magnifying glass up to a half-baked version of their hard work. But this is also a symptom of a sick ecosystem. As Riley said after the 2023 Insomniac leak:
These systems incentivize people to drop heaps of cash on pricey preorders and uphold hype cycles as though they, too, are diligent little (unpaid) marketers. GTA VI’s upcoming Netflix reveal—which people will require a subscription to view, at least until it’s posted online hours later—is the apotheosis of this: basic, 101-level information about a game kept under lock and key until it can be optimally monetized. It’s no coincidence that this isn’t even the first big GTA VI leak.
The same mentality, it’s worth noting, also gave Rockstar an excuse to fire the aforementioned workers, who the company claimed were “discussing confidential information in a public forum” by participating in a private union Discord. It’s the logical conclusion of games as a product first and foremost and art a distant second, of humans as disposable drones rather than the true value of any artistic pursuit.
Complicating matters further is the fact that the alleged hackers behind the GTA VI leak only sort of acknowledged those very real issues, mostly focusing their message on “anti-consumerism.” In a manifesto, they promised the leaks will continue until publishers—not just Rockstar—begin upholding its three “commandments” and apologizing for breaking them. The dramatically stated commandments are: “Thou shalt not sell digital preorders,” “Thou shalt not sell fake single-player DLC,” and “Thou shalt preserve single-player content.”
Anyway, it’s a gigantic mess, albeit the kind the video game industry has repeatedly primed itself for over the years. For a plethora of reasons, GTA VI’s launch cannot be normal. Expect even less smooth sailing from here on out.