Update Statement from Rockstar Games – GTA 6 Leaks Have Taken Over The Internet

It looks like we've officially gotten our first looks at GTA 6. Or have we?

On September 18, a mere day after the 9th anniversary of Grand Theft Auto 5, dozens of “leaks” of GTA 6 flooded every corner of the Internet after a hacker infiltrated Rockstar. And boy, have there been a lot of clips. 

Statement from Rockstar Games on GTA 6 leaks

Update September 19th – Rockstar Games has issued a statement on the leaks from the weekend. The original article is below the statement and remains as it was:

A Message from Rockstar Games pic.twitter.com/T4Wztu8RW8

— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) September 19, 2022

GTA 6 – Two Protagonists?

A male and a female character took center stage in the supposed leaks. These are presumably stand-ins for the protagonists. The clips showcased numerous gameplay elements like shooting mechanics, reloading, hand-to-hand combat, driving, and picking up weapons. 

We got a glimpse at a couple of indoor locations as well. The female character strolled through a strip club, and both playable characters stuck up at a local restaurant. The robbery clip was the longest of the bunch and ended off demonstrating the police response and the playable characters making a getaway in a cop car.

There was also a background conversation between two NPCs that made a callback to GTA 5's Jay Norris. That was cool. If it's any indication of how entertaining background characters will be, I'll be spending a lot of time eavesdropping on random people on the street.

Where's GTA 6 Taking Place?

With GTA 4 going down in Liberty City and GTA 5 in San Andreas, most people have had their money pegged on Vice City being the locale for GTA 6. And if these leaks are legitimate, those appear to be winning bets. 

One of the clips showed the male character at the train station, and as expected, the words Vice City was on the side of the train. We're finally heading back to Rockstar's version of Miami.

But Are These GTA 6 Leaks Real?

Hours after the leaks started popping up, Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar's parent company, began striking down as many clips as they could on websites like Twitter and YouTube. Many clips are still up, but I expect that won't be the case for much longer. 

Take-Two's immediate action in striking down these videos does give a lot of weight to the argument that these leaks were legitimate. Industry veteran Jason Schreier has been in contact with Rockstar Games representatives and confirmed the leaks' legitimacy in a tweet. 

That means we won't have to wait much longer for GTA 6. Right?

Don't Get Your Hopes Up?

Before you break out your Tommy Vercetti suit in preparation for the midnight release (Do we gamers still do that anymore?), I wouldn't get too excited. 

For one, the leaks are clearly on an alpha build game, which suggests that there are still many ways to go before the game is complete. Any and everything about GTA 6 could be changed when the final product is released. On top of that, clips of GTA 6 aren't the only things that got out. Apparently, so did some of the source codes for GTA 5 and GTA 6. Based on forum posts, it looks like the alleged hacker is taking bids for the source codes that he stole from Rockstar. 

This is all to say that hacks are never good for any unreleased product. Some had hoped that this incident would force Rockstar Games to release an official trailer for GTA 6 sometime soon. Instead, this hack will most likely delay GTA 6 further than it already was. Rockstar can't strictly focus on completing GTA 6 when their systems are compromised. And the loss of source code is serious business. 

So, for now, Tommy Vercetti and Victor Vance are still the only characters you'll be able to have some fun with in Vice City. If we're lucky, maybe we will get our hands on an official reveal sometime next year.