GTA 6 — or Grand Theft Auto VI — footage has been leaked on a forum for the popular open world action-adventure game, according to a report. The leak consists of over 90 videos showing two playable characters, Lucia and Jason. This is in line with a previous report that suggested that Rockstar’s next GTA installment could feature a female lead character. In one of the videos, Lucia can be seen robbing a restaurant with her associate. Soon after the video went viral on multiple social media platforms, Rockstar owner Take Two Interactive started filing copyright claims to take the footage down.
According to a report by PC Gamer, a trove of over 90 videos of the upcoming GTA 6 were leaked on GTAForums by a user named teapotuberhacker. The hacker reportedly also claims the credit for the recent Uber hack. The videos purportedly belong to a test build of the game, which is said to be running GTA 5 and GTA 6 source code and assets.
Update: Rockstar Games issued a statement on Monday, and here it is in its entirety.
We recently suffered a network intrusion in which an unauthorized third party illegally accessed and downloaded confidential information from our systems, including early development footage for the next Grand Theft Auto. 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.
We are extremely disappointed to have any details of our next game shared with you all in this way. Our work on the next Grand Theft Auto game will continue as planned and we remain as committed as ever to delivering an experience to you, our players, that truly exceeds your expectations. We will update everyone again soon and, of course, will properly introduce you to this next game when it is ready. We want to thank everyone for their ongoing support through this situation.
After the GTAForum post went viral, videos of GTA 6 gameplay have been uploaded on YouTube, Reddit, and Twitter. The post by the hacker has now been taken down. Additionally, the developers have also started requesting copyright claims on the gameplay that was leaked on YouTube. Most of the videos have been taken down from YouTube, but some are still doing the rounds on Twitter.
Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier stated on Twitter that he has received confirmation from sources at Rockstar that the leaked footage is from GTA 6. Schreier added that the gameplay is unfinished, and belongs to an early test build version of the game. “This is one of the biggest leaks in video game history and a nightmare for Rockstar Games,” he said. Responding to the question of why GTA 6 video leak is a nightmare for the developers, Schreier said that it will likely disrupt work for a while. He also said that it could result in management limiting the ‘work-from-home flexibility’. “The repercussions of this leak might not be clear for quite a while,” he added
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
In a video shared via Twitter, the game can be seen with two characters named Lucia and Jason robbing a restaurant. This is in line with a previous report that suggested that GTA 6 could feature a female lead character. In another video Jason can be seen next to two NPCs, who are talking about Life Invader, the in-game social media platform from GTA 5.
Lastly, a video of the leaked GTA 6 gameplay shows that it could feature a strip club as well. The game is reportedly set in Vice City, the fictionalised version of Miami. As per the report, the test build uses the police vehicles from GTA 5 with ‘VCPD’ (Vice City Police Department) written on them. The voice acting quality and dialogues are said to be very similar to Rockstar Games style.