The 80 clips show seemingly everything from complete in-game scenarios to clearly unfinished bits of gray boxing, but you won’t find a link to them here, because the truth is, they’re just not worth watching. What possible benefit could they do to anyone here, right now? The leaker gets their five minutes of fame and an influx of new followers, sure. But GTA 6 itself will look nothing like what you see in these clips when it’s actually finished, so someone please tell me, what’s the point?
Rockstar first announced they were officially working on the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series back in February, saying work was “well underway.” They also cited game development as the main reason they’ve stepped away from continuing to develop major updates for Red Dead Online, saying “Over the past few years, we’ve been steadily moving more development resources toward the next entry in the Grand Theft Auto series . […] As a result, we’re in the process of making some changes to the way we support Red Dead Online.”
So development continues apace, and by all accounts, these latest leaks look pretty legit. But what if they are legitimate? As mentioned above, most clips don’t even feature fully rendered scenes. They’re just chessboard blanks with, presumably, a few character models tossing around. (I haven’t watched all 80 clips, but judging by a screenshot showing a series of thumbnails for the leaked footage, they appear to be the vast majority of them). What can this tell us about what GTA 6 will be like when Rockstar is actually ready to show it off? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
Look, I understand that there’s some emotion when you see something that you shouldn’t – pin it on the man, especially when, in recent years, the man hasn’t had the best track record of treating his employees very well. But even that is beginning to change, with employees recently telling Bloomberg that Rockstar has come clean significantly since that big report on the pre-release crisis of Red Dead Redemption 2, and that its cultural transformation has also influenced the types of characters we’re supposed to play in the next GTA as well – reportedly a Latina who belongs to a Bonnie & Clyde-type duo, a series first. That doesn’t mean Rockstar automatically gets free passes now, of course. But there’s clearly more going on behind the scenes that we can know from the outside (we don’t actually work there), and sharing these leaks as a means of flipping the bird to higher-ups feels increasingly flimsy as an excuse.
Now, RPS has, of course, reported on all sorts of leaks in the past and will continue to do so when we feel it’s worth doing so. Personally, though, I hate them and honestly would rather wait until there’s a proper trailer to go through. Preferably a game with some real gameplay, and not cinematic of course, but really, all I want is to see a game unfold as the developers originally intended and have a chance to get excited about something that actually has substance. Call me a slob, but I enjoy this magician-style display of a big reveal, which snippets of game footage without any kind of context just can’t do.
I always think back to the Mario & Rabbids debacle when things like this happen, which I’ll fully admit I thought looked terrible when these leaks first appeared, just days before the big E3 reveal. But more kid me, because not only did it turn out to be the best thing Ubisoft had produced in years, it was also arguably one of the highlights of E3 all year. Context is everything when you’re dealing with something new – and it’s something that’s often missing from leaks. These alleged GTA 6 clips definitely fall into the pointless no-frame, so please don’t bother. Why spoil the surprise for yourself?
