GTA VI leak rocks gaming world ahead of launch

According to PC Gamer, the material was posted by an unidentified person or group calling itself Cyberleek, which claims that the leaks are justified by consumer-rights concerns and are intended as a protest against the gaming industry’s shift toward all-digital releases.

Rockstar Games, the developer behind the “GTA” franchise, and parent company Take-Two Interactive have not publicly commented on the purported hack. However, leaked clips have been removed from social media platforms including X and Reddit over copyright claims.

The initial clips appeared online on August 18 and showed what appeared to be ordinary gameplay featuring Jason, one of the game’s protagonists. Subsequent videos also circulated before being taken down.

Cyberleek criticized publishers for selling digital licenses as purchases, releasing unfinished games as live services and charging separately for content already included in game files. It called for an end to digital preorders, a ban on selling DLC already contained in base-game files and mandatory offline functionality for single-player components.

The leaker’s actions were also motivated by the decline of physical media. GTA VI will reportedly be the first installment in the 29-year-old franchise to be released without a physical disc.

Cyberleek has also promoted a cryptocurrency token, $Cyberleek, and solicited donations, claiming the funds would support a “secret project.”

The game is officially scheduled for release on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S on November 19. The leaked footage emerged shortly before Netflix was set to premiere an extended look at the game on Thursday, August 27, at 3 p.m. ET.

Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. would end production of physical game discs for all new games on PlayStation consoles, making them available only in digital formats starting in 2028.