Developer Rockstar acknowledged on Monday that it “suffered a network intrusion in which an unauthorized third party illegally accessed and downloaded confidential information” that included early development material for the next Grand Theft Auto. “We are extremely disappointed to share all the details about our next game in this way,” the studio wrote in a tweet. “Our work on the next Grand Theft Auto game will continue as planned, and we remain as dedicated as ever to delivering an experience to you, our players, that truly exceeds your expectations.” The leak should not disrupt its live game services or have a long-term impact on the development of its ongoing projects, he noted. Grand Theft Auto VI has not been shown to the public in any form, although developer Rockstar noted in February that it was working on a sequel. The game is reportedly at least two years away from release. A user on GTAforums appears to be behind the leak and posted nearly 100 videos of the game in action, which were later removed by moderators. Copies of the videos posted on Twitter were also removed in response to copyright citations. Unlike the official gameplay trailers we’re used to seeing, these videos feature unfinished elements such as placeholder textures and unfinished character models. Many of them are short. One, which is a bit more extended, shows a man and woman robbing a restaurant. Others feature a woman visiting a strip club. one clip shows a poolside conversation. This is pretty much par for the course for the Grand Theft Auto games, which all feature missions in a similar fashion. The addition of a playable female character also echoes much of what Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier reported about Grand Theft Auto VI. Other details, such as the game being set in the fictional Vice City (predated by 2002’s GTA Vice City), appear to be confirmed in the leaked footage. Before Rockstar’s tweet, Schreier said he had confirmed on Sunday that the leaked video was authentic. Not that there was much doubt, but I’ve confirmed with Rockstar sources that this weekend’s massive Grand Theft Auto VI leak is indeed real. The footage is early and unfinished, of course. This is one of the biggest leaks in video game history and a nightmare for Rockstar Games — Jason Schreier (@jasonschreier) September 18, 2022 Some gamers, used to polishing footage of upcoming releases, reacted negatively to the early leaks, but games in early development usually look like that. Rockstar has reportedly been working on Grand Theft Auto VI since 2014. At this point, no one knows exactly how old this video is, but as The Verge noted, the game appears to be running on RTX 3060 Ti and RTX 3080 cards, which which means construction cannot be longer than two years. As the game is still years away from release, that’s fitting: Unreleased big-budget video games rarely look nearly finished. Hacker group Lapsus$ was apparently behind the leak, with Uber accusing it of attacking its computer network last week. It was responsible for similar breaches of Microsoft, Cisco, Samsung, Nvidia, Okta and others in 2022. Rockstar did not respond to CNET’s request for comment.
