On Sunday, September 18th, one of the most anticipated games of the last decade experienced an unprecedented and massive leak. Dozens of video files related to Grand Theft Auto 6 began appearing on his GTAForums fan forum, introducing the world to Rockstar’s next AAA game for the first time (and quite unintentionally).
The leaks caused massive ramifications and started a debate within the video game industry about leaks and the impact they have on every level of game development. , here’s everything you need to know about this story.
We will update this story with new developments.
GTA 6 Confirmed, But Never Seen
Rockstar officially announced the next Grand Theft Auto game on February 4, 2022 with a press release. “[W]We are pleased to confirm that we are well on our way to vigorous development for the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series,” Rockstar wrote earlier this year. “We look forward to sharing more information when it’s ready. Stay tuned to the Rockstar Newswire for official details.”
Prior to the announcement, Rockstar mostly talked about the continued success of Grand Theft Auto 5 and GTA Online. Both received next-gen updates, no doubt they’re still popular, but continuing to hype a decade-old game is exhausting for some fans, and his next GTA game The announcement felt like it had been long awaited.
However, coming from a press release with no additional material, it seemed like GTA 6 was still in the early stages of development. Rockstar’s parent company, Take-Two Interactive, and its CEO, Strauss Zelnick, said details of GTA 6 will be shared in “Rockstar’s schedule.”
this did not happen.
Start of the leak: “There are 90 footage/clips of GTA 6”
GTAForums is one of the most popular online discussion boards for all things Grand Theft Auto. On September 18th, we found ourselves in an unexpected location where assets for the still-in-development Grand Theft Auto 6 were leaked. The leak soon spread to other social media sites such as Twitter and YouTube.
Various clips with unfinished assets showed off several elements of the game in development, such as parts of the world, gunfights, and NPC AI. The clip also seems to confirm some rumors about GTA 6 already circulating online, such as the presence of male and female protagonists.
The leak came from a user named “teapotuberhacker” who claimed to be the same person who hacked ride-hailing app Uber earlier this month.
“There are 90 footages/clips from GTA 6,” they wrote. The hackers also shared what appeared to be various GTA 6 assets and the game’s code.
Start of takedown
Later the same day, the leaked video on multiple platforms was removed at the request of Take-Two Interactive.As reported by VGCthe takedown request appeared to have been sent by an individual with a Rockstar email address, but confirmed the leak was legitimate.
The next day, both GTAForums and the GTA 6 subreddit removed threads featuring the leaked content. Messages on both sites explained that they were complying with a request to remove all copyrighted material from Take-Two.of Original GTAForum thread It was then locked for new comments and reverted, even though all links to stolen material were removed.
Rockstar officially confirms hack
In a surprising move, Rockstar confirmed the hack’s veracity.Up until then, it was still advertised as a highly elaborate hoax.
“We recently experienced a network intrusion in which an unauthorized third party gained unauthorized access to confidential information, including early development footage of the upcoming Grand Theft Auto, and downloaded it from our systems.”
A message from Rockstar Games pic.twitter.com/T4Wztu8RW8
— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) September 19, 2022
Rockstar also reassured fans that despite the massive leak, the studio does not anticipate any interruptions to ongoing projects or “long-term effects on development.” Work on Theft Auto games will also “continue as planned.”
FBI involved
Given the widespread nature of the hack and the reported victims being not one but two major corporations, the FBI was involved in the hack investigation.
Uber has published a blog revealing it is working with the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice to investigate a recent data breach, saying their hackers are also suspected of being involved in the Rockstar hack. Uber has revealed that it believes hackers are behind a group known as Lapsus$, which has carried out similar attacks against companies such as Nvidia, Microsoft and Samsung.
“We believe this actor (or attackers) belongs to a hacking group called Lapsus$, which has become increasingly active over the past year or so.” cites similar techniques used against major technology companies as reasons for suspicion.
“Over the weekend, we also received reports that the same attackers compromised video game maker Rockstar Games,” Uber wrote. “We are working closely with the FBI and the U.S. Department of Justice on this matter and will continue to support their efforts.”
GTA 6 Leaked Fallout
Although it’s only been a few days since the leak, the episode has caused a lot of discussion within the video game industry.
One such debate is about the harm of sharing early footage of a game and how it affects perceptions of the final product. The next Grand Theft Auto game is still in the early stages of development, but there is still a lack of general understanding of game development, and this could negatively affect the final version of the game.
“My thoughts are with the team [Rockstar Games]and the Xbox Sarah Bond“It can be disappointing for a project that we’ve worked so hard to please to please our fans to go public and be criticized before it’s ready.”
I feel overwhelmed right now by my fellow developers affected by the latest leak, but know that it will pass. Play it, appreciate your craft, and the leak will be relegated to a footnote on your Wikipedia page. keep making art. ♥️
— Neil Druckmann (@Neil_Druckmann) September 18, 2022
Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier I got it How leaks can affect employees and how it “limits flexibility to work from home.”
As far as early footage is concerned, there was some backlash against early judgments about the work still in progress.
“Whoever judges the leaked footage [GTA 6] Just like idiots don’t work in game development,” wrote the game developer. Cliff Brzezinski“The amount of time/people/dollars we spend on these games [equals] Insane. “
One way game developers have begun to explore and educate themselves on what in-development versions of their games look like is by sharing footage of their games early in the development cycle. Developers such as Insomniac, Remedy shared early footage of games like Control, Spider-Man, etc. to illustrate what early game development looks like even for a AAA project.
Graphics are first and foremost in video games, and CONTROL has won multiple awards for graphical excellence. Here’s an early development video 🙂
Full video here: https://t.co/l2g7oPhtk7
🔻 pic.twitter.com/cGnmJZXF5E— Paul Airless 🔻 (@bacon_sanwich) September 20, 2022
The caveat here is that the leaked GTA 6 footage looks pretty good, considering how early the game is in development. Also, some developers, such as EA Motive, are pushing the envelope on how quickly they can publish their games. EA Motive has shared a very early look at the upcoming Dead Space remake, but emphasizes that everything they share is still pretty early.
But if more gamers could get more insight and context into game development, even for AAA games, they would probably get at least one benefit from this episode.
The full impact of the leak on Grand Theft Auto 6 or Rockstar Games development remains to be seen for some time. It will remain one of the biggest leaks overall.
Matt TM Kim is IGN’s News Editor.you can contact him @lawoftd.
