Grand Theft Auto 6 leak “terribly disappointing” but won’t affect development

The recent leak of early footage from Grand Theft Auto 6 won’t derail the game’s progress, according to the boss of GTA publisher Take Two Interactive.

Responding to a recent question on whether the leak had caused any residual damage, Take Two chairman and CEO Strauss Zelnick described the incident – which involved the unauthorised release of a trove of videos showing GTA 6 gameplay – as ‘terribly unfortunate’.

However, the hack was unlikely to have affected Grand Theft Auto 6’s progress. “We take those sorts of incidents very seriously indeed,” he said. “There’s no evidence any material assets were taken, which is a good thing, and certainly the leak won’t have any influence on development or anything of the sort.

“But it is terribly disappointing and causes us to be ever more vigilant on matters relating to cyber security,” he added.

The leak occurred in September 2022, and GTA developer Rockstar noted at the time how the ‘disruption’ was unlikely to have had any lasting development effect. “We are extremely disappointed to have any details of our next game shared with you all in this way,” a Rockstar statement said at the time.

“Our work on the next Grand Theft Auto game will continue as planned and we remain as committed as ever to delivering the experience to you, our players, that truly exceeds your expectations. We will update everyone again soon and, of course, will properly introduce you to the next game when it is ready.”

Earlier this year, Zelnick confirmed that continued sales of Grand Theft Auto Five – released in 2013 – remained strong, having shifted 170 million copies since launch. Famously, that game was the fastest-selling ‘entertainment’ product in history, raking in a billion dollars over the first three days of its release.

Zelnick reckons GTA 6 will “set creative benchmarks for the series, our industry, and for all entertainment”.