September 18th has turned out to be one of the darkest days for Rockstar Games, the developer of the Grand Theft Auto franchise. It was supposed to be the anniversary of GTA 5’s release, but this has turned out to be a nightmare for the next GTA title. An anonymous user of GTAForums uploaded more than 90 videos, which allegedly show the gameplay of the upcoming GTA 6. But, how reliable is this GTA VI leak and how does it tie in with the earlier speculations? Let’s find out!
GTA 6 Leak Confirms Female Protagonist, Vice City, and More
Earlier this year, Bloomberg reported that GTA VI would feature two playable characters, one of which will be a woman. As per posts on social media, the leaked footage shows two playable characters with a majority of the gameplay featuring a female character. Moreover, people on Twitter claimed that the footage also showed parts of a city that appeared to be similar to Vice City, GTA’s fictional version of Miami. Several leaks have pointed toward Vice City making a comeback in recent years, and this leaked footage might be living proof of the same.
Screenshot of the post that leaked GTA 6 footage
As per sources, some of the clips even feature billboards and vehicles with the name “Vice City” written on them. They further mentioned that one main clip showed a restaurant getting looted followed by a police encounter while another showed some racist dialogues between two characters near a pool.
When Are The Leaked GTA 6 Videos From?
A variety of users, with access to the leak, have pointed out that most of the videos in this archive appear to be from the early development stage as the textures in them are rigid and incomplete. None of the leaked footage had any dates mentioned in it. Though, several users also mentioned that the GTA 6 alpha gameplay footage’s overlay has Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card mentioned in it. And since 3080 came out in 2020, the videos have to be from 2020 or later.
Is GTA 6 Leak Real or Fake?
At the moment, Rockstar Games officially hasn’t confirmed or denied the truth of this massive leak. But, several reliable sources indicate that this leak might indeed be real, and one of the largest in video game history. As per the sources of Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier, who leaked the female protagonist, the leak is real. He further mentioned in a separate tweet that this security mishap might be due to Rockstar’s “work-from-home” situation with developers sharing sensitive content over the cloud.
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
Another major confirmation of the GTA 6 leak’s impact comes from the actions that Take-Two Interactive, the parent company of Rockstar Games, is taking. The GTAForums and most GTA subreddits are already under lockdown to contain the damage caused to the upcoming title. Not to forget, TakeTwo is already issuing takedown notices to YouTubers that have uploaded the leaked footage.
The Leak Isn’t Over
Even though the scale of this GTA 6 leak is enough to damage Rockstar Games in several ways, the leaker still isn’t satisfied with the situation. After about 12 hours of the original leak, they updated their post asking Rockstar to “negotiate a deal” with them to avoid more content from getting leaked.
“i am looking to negotiate a deal”
GTA VI leaker says they’ve woken up to thousands of messages and are calling on people from Rockstar/Take Two to contact them. pic.twitter.com/cnPs57NAt7
— Stephen Totilo (@stephentotilo) September 18, 2022
If their post is to be believed, the leaker somehow has the source code of GTA 5 and 6 whose leakage can be more damaging to the company than any other GTA 6 leak. At the moment, there is no confirmation about the identity or the whereabouts of the leaker. But interestingly, they have claimed to be the same hacker, named TeaPots, who was behind the huge Uber data breach from last week.
This GTA 6 leak is equivalent to a bomb on the gaming industry, which doesn’t only affect Rockstar Games but also the overall community. If the leak includes any in-game files next time, we might see a major delay in the GTA 6 release date. So, if you are a GTA fan, it’s best not to promote or share the leaked files in any way. Having said that, how do you expect Rockstar Games to react to the situation? Do tell us in the comments below!
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