Photo: StrangerIX on YouTube
It was a very busy weekend for Rockstar Games and Take Two Interactive, and it wasn’t thanks to GTA 5’s ninth anniversary. Someone managed to find early development builds of the upcoming Grand Theft Auto VI or GTA 6 and leaked them all over the internet. As expected, some fans were ecstatic while others refused to believe it, even though everything pointed at the footage being real. But here’s what the company has to say about everything that has happened.
A statement published Monday by Rockstar Games on Twitter confirms they suffered a data breach, and someone gained access to confidential information. Initially, people on the internet believed a former employee decided to take revenge on the company for not being compensated well enough for the work done to accelerate GTA 6’s release. But that theory has been disproven very fast because it had no proof other than some angry YouTube video descriptions. While all this was ongoing, Take Two Interactive tried to find every available video on the Internet and demanded to have them deleted on copyright grounds.
Then, rumors began circulating on Twitter and dedicated forums that someone managed to hack into Rockstar’s servers. The culprit gained access to footage of the early builds, debugging done by developers for various important scenes of the game, and the source code for both GTA 5 and GTA 6. Unconfirmed conversations started appearing on the web showing that a person wanted money in exchange for not leaking even more online. They were asking for “five figures, nothing less” in one of the screenshotted Telegram chats.
Now, Rockstar has confirmed the “network intrusion,” but assured everyone there won’t be any issues with their live game services and this mishap won’t affect their effort put into making GTA 6 great.
The company also regrets that this was how the public found out about the upcoming videogame but told everyone it’ll continue working as planned and it’ll “remain as committed as ever to delivering an experience (…) that truly exceeds your expectations.”
Rockstar Games also thanked everyone for the support they’ve received from players and partners. It’s not clear if the “unauthorized third party that illegally accessed and downloaded confidential information” has been identified by now. They might still be out there.
Finally, Rockstar Games decided against giving an official glimpse into the GTA 6 universe, but maybe that’s for the best. People might forget what they saw now, and chances are most of us will be pleasantly surprised by how the ready-for-release video game will look.
Then, rumors began circulating on Twitter and dedicated forums that someone managed to hack into Rockstar’s servers. The culprit gained access to footage of the early builds, debugging done by developers for various important scenes of the game, and the source code for both GTA 5 and GTA 6. Unconfirmed conversations started appearing on the web showing that a person wanted money in exchange for not leaking even more online. They were asking for “five figures, nothing less” in one of the screenshotted Telegram chats.
Now, Rockstar has confirmed the “network intrusion,” but assured everyone there won’t be any issues with their live game services and this mishap won’t affect their effort put into making GTA 6 great.
The company also regrets that this was how the public found out about the upcoming videogame but told everyone it’ll continue working as planned and it’ll “remain as committed as ever to delivering an experience (…) that truly exceeds your expectations.”
Rockstar Games also thanked everyone for the support they’ve received from players and partners. It’s not clear if the “unauthorized third party that illegally accessed and downloaded confidential information” has been identified by now. They might still be out there.
Finally, Rockstar Games decided against giving an official glimpse into the GTA 6 universe, but maybe that’s for the best. People might forget what they saw now, and chances are most of us will be pleasantly surprised by how the ready-for-release video game will look.
A Message from Rockstar Games pic.twitter.com/T4Wztu8RW8
— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) September 19, 2022
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