Although many fans of theGrand Theft Autofranchise were positive that a new chapter afterGTA 5and many years of silence would come, Rockstar Games' official announcement ofGrand Theft Auto 6in February of this year made millions of players happy.GTA 6has been a long time coming, withGTA 5celebrating its ninth anniversaryjust a few days ago, right before one of the biggest leaks in the gaming industry took place at the hands of a hacker. The leaker managed to gain access to all sorts of gameplay footage forGTA 6from a Rockstar Games employee’s communication channels and then proceeded to share them online alongside listings forGTA 5’s source code.
The videos show the game’s two protagonists, with one of them being a woman called Lucia, which ties back to previous reports ofGTA 6featuring a female lead character, who in this case is accompanied by a man named Jason. All theGTA 6footage alone is enough damage to Rockstar Games, which hadn’t officially revealed any sort of detail about the upcoming game beforehand, including its protagonists, but the source code being out in the open is a different beast entirely. Very recently, a message that acknowledges the leak as legitimate was issued onRockstar Games' socials, with the promise on the company’s part to go ahead with its work as intended.
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What The Massive GTA 6 Leaks Could Mean For Rockstar Games
Despite its statement regarding the leaks, Rockstar Games is still likely going to face many branching consequences when it comes to its work onGTA 6and the company’s internal policies. The hacker claims that they got access to the videos and the game’s source code by phishing a Rockstar Games employee and then grabbing links and documents from their Slack account. Known Bloomberg reporter Jason Schreier followed up with the developer confirming theGrand Theft Auto 6leakis real, and that it will be a nightmare for the company to deal with, possibly alluding to side effects further down the line.
While the immediate-to-long-term consequences can vary, it’s possible that the internal policy at Rockstar Games will change as a result. For example, there could be fewer job listings for WFH positions in the future, and current work-from-home benefits for developers could be partially revoked or revised to prevent similar issues from ever arising again. This doesn’t necessarily apply to Rockstar Games alone, but it could become the spark that ignites an industry-wide shift in WFH policies and the best practices for sharing work with fellow developers online way beyondGrand Theft Auto 6.
GTA 6’s intended release date, which never made it to the public before the leak, could be pushed further to readjust assets, code, or even some of the defining gameplay features. The source code being in the open is much more threatening than actual alpha footage because, even if the string of code shared by the leaker is not for the whole game, it could still be used if unchanged to affect the experience of anyone playing online, be it via cheats or other forms of malicious behavior that goes to benefit the user or other people.
Not only that, but if the code forGTA 6is similar to a degree to that ofGTA 5, which the hacker put up for sale, there could still be repercussions on the way Rockstar Games moves forward. There’s also the fact thatGrand Theft Auto 6hacker’s name was used in a scamto get over $100,000 forGTA 5’s code, even though the leaker claims not to have been paid. Furthermore, this person also seems to be planning the auction ofGTA 6’s source code in case they don’t get what they asked for from Rockstar Games. Overall, the whole ordeal is quite grim, even if some players are just happilyhoping for the prospect ofGTA 6launching sooner than they anticipated.
Grand Theft Auto 6is in development.
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