The video was posted on the GTAForums website by a user named teapotuberhacker, who claimed to have accessed it by hacking the company’s internal Rockstar Slack stream and gaining access to their servers. The original post has since been removed, but not before the images and video went viral on social media. Rockstar Games’ parent company, Take-Two Interactive, has issued takedowns to remove the material from YouTube and Twitter. The hacker has also threatened to leak the source code for Grand Theft Auto V and the in-development version of Grand Theft Auto VI, calling on Rockstar Games to negotiate a deal. Rockstar Games and Take-Two have yet to comment on the leak, but sources close to Rockstar told the Guardian and Bloomberg that it is authentic and represents an early build of the game that is already a year old. The video shows animation tests, level layouts, and gameplay tests, including some fully voiced conversations between characters. The video shows a female protagonist in a fictional modern-day Miami, Vice City, also the setting of 2002’s Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. The videos clearly show a build of the game in progress, with debugging commands and other technical information overlaid. Rockstar confirmed that GTA 6 was in “active development” earlier this year, although early work on the game likely began in 2014. Leaks hurt video game developers not only because of the confidential information they represent, but because a leak can negatively affect the perception of a game before release. It’s common for in-development builds to look raw until the final months of development, and rarely represent the final game – something that uninformed viewers often don’t understand. Developers who spend years of their lives making big-budget games are discouraged by leaks that don’t show the quality of work they’re aiming for in the full product. Prominent developers across the games industry spoke sympathetically to the people who work at Rockstar Games over the weekend. Alex Hern’s weekly dive into how technology is shaping our lives Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Naughty Dog’s Neil Druckmann, whose 2020 game The Last of Us Part II was leaked in its entirety ahead of release, tweeted: “To my fellow developers affected by the latest leak, please know that while it feels overwhelming this the moment, it will pass. One day we’ll play your game, appreciate your art, and the leaks will be relegated to a footnote on a Wikipedia page.” Grand Theft Auto V has sold 170 million copies in the nine years since its release, making it one of the most successful entertainment products ever released. Along with its online multiplayer mode, GTA Online, it’s estimated to have brought in more than $900 million for Take Two in 2020 alone. Grand Theft Auto VI is expected to break records when it launches – although Rockstar has said that is still several years away.
