There is a lot of curiosity and anticipation around GTA VI, especially among fans of the famous Rockstar Games video game. There is a lot of talk about the game these days, as the preview on Netflix scheduled for tomorrow, at 9pm Italian time, approaches, due to an attempted digital extortion: images and videos of what appears to be the entire map of the new chapter of the saga have been released by a criminal or a group of hackers calling themselves Cyberleek. The Rockstar Games company, which develops Grand Theft Auto, is particularly attentive to the protection of unreleased content. This time, however, the leak was large enough to allow users to see portions of the game before the official launch. The contents began to circulate on social networks, although several posts were subsequently removed from platforms such as X and Reddit. It’s not the first time a video game title has been targeted by hackers. In past years it has already happened with titles of the caliber of Half-Life 2 and The Last of Us Part II.
Cyberleek’s gesture as a protest
Parent company Take-Two Interactive, which owns Rockstar Games, did not comment on the alleged attack, at least initially. However, he later initiated legal action to try to identify the accounts involved in the illegal dissemination of the material. The company has asked Microsoft and Discord to turn over documents related to the online accounts used to post and share the leaks, and the requests have been filed in the Southern District Court of New York.
The hacker or the group calling itself Cyberleek (it is not yet clear whether it is an individual or a real team of cyber criminals) presented the operation as a form of protest against some transformations in the gaming industry. At the center of the criticism is above all the move towards games distributed exclusively in digital format. In fact, in a public post, Cyberleek complained:
(Video game) publishers sell licenses and call them “purchases.” They distribute incomplete games and call them “ever-evolving services”. They lock content onto discs and call it DLC. (…) They put an end to the games and keep the money. Every year anti-consumerism tightens its grip, and every year players get less and less for what they pay.
In fact, for the first time in the 28-year history of the series, Rockstar has announced that the new chapter of “GTA” will be released without a physical disc. The release is scheduled for November 19th on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series The first trailer arrived in December 2023, after a long wait: GTA V, in fact, dates back to 2013.
The material that was released by Cyberleek appeared online about a week before an extended preview of the game, which was scheduled to be viewed on Netflix at 9:00 pm (ET) on August 27th.
The reaction of the community of enthusiasts was quite varied, if we can call it that. Some fans defended the developers, arguing that those who worked on the project should be able to decide how and when to show it to the public. Others, however, have attributed the responsibility for the situation to Rockstar, criticizing its commercial choices.
Thus, yesterday, Rockstar Games in a post on X:
Other famous cases of hacked video games
As we told you at the beginning, GTA VI is not the first video game to be affected by a similar phenomenon. Over the past decades, various titles have been the protagonist of leaks that have anticipated the plot, game settings, characters, and much more.
One of the most famous cases, dating back to 2003, is that of Half-Life 2. During development, someone managed to penetrate Valve’s systems and steal the source code, which was then spread on the Internet. Gabe Newell, founder of Valve, publicly confirmed the theft and explained that the intrusion began with unauthorized access to his email account.
Another case, very different but equally significant, happened in 2020 with The Last of Us Part II. Prior to the game’s official release, development footage and important plot details began circulating online. The leak was so extensive that it revealed key story elements and several game sequences.
