GTA 6 Leak Was “Really Frustrating And Upsetting,” Take-Two Says

Rockstar Games suffered a major leak at the end of 2022 when photos and video gameplay footage of the next Grand Theft Auto game emerged online. The situation was disappointing, but the head of Rockstar’s parent company confirmed it didn’t have an impact on business matters.

Speaking to IGN, Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said the leak was “really frustrating and upsetting to the team,” but didn’t hurt the company financially. “As a business matter we’re not affected. But as a personal matter and an emotional matter, our teams are affected,” he said.

Zelnick also said that Take-Two took the situation “very seriously indeed,” and that’s no surprise to hear. After all, within days of the leak coming to light, the supposed perpetrator appeared in court and was held in a youth detention center.

Before this, Zelnick commented on how the leak was “terribly unfortunate.”

“There is no evidence that any material assets were taken, which is a good thing. And certainly, the leak won’t have any influence on development or anything of the sort,” Zelnick said in November 2022. “But it is terribly disappointing and causes us to be ever more vigilant on matters relating to cybersecurity.”

The GTA 6 leak dates back to September 2022, when extended gameplay videos and screenshots from the game appeared online. In addition to reportedly confirming the game’s rumored Vice City setting and Bonnie and Clyde-inspired story, the leak revealed that the game could feature sex robots and alligators.

Responding to the leak, Rockstar said in a statement that an “unauthorized third party illegally accessed and downloaded confidential information from our systems…” This included “early development footage” of the next Grand Theft Auto game. “At this time, we do not anticipate any disruption to our live game services nor any long-term effect on the development of our ongoing projects,” Rockstar said.

There is no word yet on when GTA 6 will be released, or what its official title may be. GTA V continues to soar, recently picking up steam again and reaching 175 million copies sold. The game’s multiplayer mode, GTA Online, brings in additional cash through microtransactions.