Rockstar responds to massive Grand Theft Auto VI leak

Rockstar has responded to leaks, stating that they “do not anticipate any disruption” to the development of Grand Theft Auto 6.

Rockstar, the developer of the Grand Theft Auto series of games, has responded to one of the “biggest leaks in video game history”.

As reported yesterday, a hacker wanted to “negotiate” with Rockstar regarding leaks of Grand Theft Auto VI, a game still in development.

The hacker released 90 videos of in-development footage, showing off GTA6’s graphics, cover system, and more, and has been labelled one of the worst leaks in gaming history.

Grand Theft Auto V was released in 2013. Nearly a decade has passed in-between Grand Theft Auto releases. Picture: Rockstar Games

The videos showed a lot of things players aren’t meant to see, such as missing dialogue, missing NPCs, and other factors of the development process.

It is normal for a game that hasn’t even announced a release date to still feature “graybox” assets, which are used purely for testing systems or animations while not worrying about polish.

The message from Rockstar Games stated that it “recently suffered a network intrusion in which an unauthorised third party illegally accessed and downloaded confidential information from our systems, including early development footage for the next Grand Theft Auto.”

The previous entry in the GTA series, Grand Theft Auto V, sold extremely well worldwide, even in markets not normally interested in the series, such as Japan. Picture: AFP

“At this time, we do not anticipate any disruption to our live game services nor any long-term effect on the development of our ongoing projects.

“Our work on the next Grant Theft Auto game will continue as planned and we remain as committed as ever to delivering an experience to you, our players, that truly exceeds your expectations.”

The hacker previously threatened to release source code for Grand Theft Auto VI if Rockstar did not negotiate, however, game developers and experts have noted that the amount of source code the hacker may possess is minimal and would not affect the release of the game in any meaningful way.

Grand Theft Auto Vi has no scheduled release date, but Rockstar has confirmed earlier rumours that the game will feature a female lead, more inclusive design, and take place in Vice City, which is the GTA universe’s version of Miami.

— written by Junior Miyai on behalf of GLHF