Rockstar Games has acknowledged that there has been a major leak involving the in-development next Grand Theft Auto title, but vows to continue work on the game and unveil it in its own time.
The major leak covered all aspects of the new game, from early in-game development footage to a number of leaked videos, maps, and much about the game and Rockstar’s plans for it.
The leaked footage and plans were all quickly shared widely, and confirmed by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier and Cecilia D'Anastasio yesterday to have been authentic. The clips and images being shared were also hit fast by takedown notices and requests by Take-Two to remove and purge them, but they were shared and copied widely and, of course, started plenty of discussion and even more theorizing and searching for additional info. For example, there are images of what is likely to be the female co-protagonist of this next game. After seeing some of the leaks, some in the community went looking to pinpoint exactly who the potential actress behind this character could be.
Take-Two did what it could to stem the leaks, but what’s out there is still being discussed, though today, Rockstar Games released its own statement referencing what is effectively one of the biggest ever leaks in gaming. The statement reads, in part,
“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.” Rockstar says that development on this next GTA title will “continue as planned” and they also hope that the public will have some patience instead of seeking out leaked early info. They “will properly introduce you to this next game when it is ready” and thank supporters.
A Message from Rockstar Games pic.twitter.com/T4Wztu8RW8
— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) September 19, 2022
Take-Two’s stock is down slightly this morning, but with the scope of this leak, it remains to be seen just what will happen down the line. Whenever Rockstar is ready to properly introduce it, we’ll see if what they present can be heard louder than any leaks.
