In the span of one day, leaks to the upcoming, much-awaited Grand Theft Auto 6 (GTA 6) were uploaded, spread, and taken down. Click here to learn more about what exactly went down.
Gta 6 leaked lmao pic.twitter.com/zTPz4K2Po3
— Water (@WaterHexle) September 18, 2022
On the 18th of September, 2022, a new user by the name of teapotuberhacker posted on the fan-run GTA forums. In their now deleted post, they claimed to have over 90 videos containing footage from the upcoming GTA 6. They also claimed they could leak more, saying they also have “GTA 5 and 6 source code and assets, GTA 6 testing build.” On the post was a link leading to a downloadable archive that contained more than 3GB of videos. Various users quickly downloaded it (the file currently has over one hundred thousand downloads), and promptly started uploading them.
This topic quickly became viral. On Twitter, the hashtags #GTA6Leaked and #GTAVI are still trending as of the writing of this post. Various videos popped up, with people creating Twitter accounts solely to upload and share the leaks. Roughly 12 hours after the initial upload of the leak, teapotuberhacker updated his post (See picture below).
In the update, they mentioned that after “unexpectedly” going viral, he was getting so many messages on Telegram. He continued that if employees from Rockstar or Take-Two wanted to contact him, they can do it through Telegram or an email he gave. They mentioned that they were “looking to negotiate a deal”. Exactly what kind of deal they might be looking for is still up in the air. Speculations, however, point towards this being one of extortion: A deal where teapotuberhacker would get something from the developers to prevent any further leaks.
Of course, the authenticity of these leaks was questionable. After all, some of the videos looked like they were using assets from Grand Theft Auto 5. However, there are two things that seemingly prove its authenticity. First, video game journalist Jason Schreier tweeted that his sources confirmed that the footage was real. He called it “one of the biggest leaks in video game history and a nightmare for Rockstar Games.”
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
The second was that Take-Two started striking down the leaks that were uploaded on platforms such as youtube. A screenshot uploaded on Twitter shows the takedowns issued by Take 2 Interactive.
TakeTwo is starting to roll out takedown requests #GTA6 pic.twitter.com/vjBCtg1JUQ
— Mors Mutual Insurance (@morsmutual_) September 18, 2022
According to spectators, Take-Two's move to take down the leaks goes to show that we shouldn't be seeing these gameplay videos. Sadly, videos from the leak still exist on twitter. Let's just hope that this huge leak won't affect the development of the game that much. Of course, that's only wishful thinking at this point.
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