An array of leaks claim to show the upcoming Grand Theft Auto 6 in detail – and a group claiming to be behind them have made a specific demand of developers Rockstar.
A host of videos have been posted online in recent hours that claim to show gameplay and the map for the upcoming game, which could be the most popular and awaited game of this decade. It is unclear how legitimate the leaks are, where they came from, or whether they represent the game in anything like its finished form.
But the leaks came with a series of threats to developers Rockstar, the company behind the game, as well as others in the gaming industry. A group called “CyberLeek”, which took responsibility for the attack, suggested in a post on its website that the reveal had been the result of frustration over how Rockstar has chosen to release the game.
“Publishers should beware,” a now-removed manifesto on the group’s website said, according to gaming website IGN. “If CyberLeek can reach Rockstar, no one is safe. This is a message to all big corpo: behave, or be the next target.”
It contained references to Rockstar’s controversial decision to release Grand Theft Auto 6 only as a digital download, and not as a physical disc. That announcement came around the same time that Sony announced that it would soon stop releasing games for the PlayStation 5 in physical form.
That led to outrage from gamers, who criticised the decision as greedy and punishing of players. Digital downloads can only be bought from the console’s official stores, and cannot be shared or sold on in the same way as physical games.
One of the videos, apparently released by Cyberleeks, included text layered over it that read: "No physical discs? Then more leeks!".
The same group criticised other release decisions by Rockstar, pointing to the removal of content that players had paid for and locking certain downloadable extras to an even more expensive “Ultimate Edition” of the game.
But the leaks also appeared to be a way of promoting the group’s own cryptocurrency. Such ‘memecoins’ have proven popular as a way of exploiting attention online – though they have often led to money being lost by investors.
Rockstar is yet to respond to the leaks or to the threats from the group claiming to be behind them. The news comes just days before much of the game is set to be revealed in an “extended look” that will be shown on Netflix on 27 August.
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