Grand Theft Auto 6 (Image: Rock Star Games)
Grand Theft Auto 6 is at the center of a new unauthorized leak just days before Rockstar’s official gameplay showcase, this time paired with an unusual crypto-linked threat aimed at the broader video game industry.
Two short clips purporting to show real GTA 6 gameplay began circulating online this week. In one, protagonist Jason is seen playing basketball outside his waterfront home, with a modified heads-up display and an in-game tutorial for the basketball minigame visible.
In the second, Jason drives through the game’s world, crashes into other vehicles and gets into a confrontation with a delivery driver, prompting a police response. A separate image claiming to show GTA 6’s complete map, including the fictional state of Leonida and its version of Vice City, has also spread across social media.
The material has been linked to a group calling itself CyberLeek, which has claimed responsibility and published a manifesto directed at Rockstar and game publishers more broadly. Neither Rockstar nor parent company Take-Two Interactive has officially authenticated the leaked material, though both have moved quickly to issue copyright takedown requests against the circulating footage, a response some gaming outlets say lends credibility to at least the gameplay clips. The leaked map image has drawn more skepticism, with some analysis suggesting its visuals look unusually simplistic for a finished Rockstar product, raising questions about whether it reflects an early, unfinished build rather than the game’s final version.
CyberLeek’s manifesto lays out three demands, which it calls “commandments”: ending digital-only pre-orders without independent testing, eliminating what it terms “fake single-player DLC,” meaning content already included on a disc but locked behind a paywall, and requiring publishers to preserve offline access to single-player content even after game servers eventually shut down.
The group specifically criticizes Rockstar’s decision to ship GTA 6 without a traditional physical disc, offering only a download code in a box at retail, and points to Ubisoft’s shutdown of The Crew as an example of the harms it says its demands are meant to prevent. The manifesto closes with a warning to the wider industry, stating that if the group can reach a company as prominent as Rockstar, no publisher is safe from similar treatment, and has threatened further leaks if its demands go unmet.
Complicating the situation, the leak is tied to a cryptocurrency and memecoin associated with CyberLeek, fueling widespread suspicion among gamers and industry observers that the campaign may be less a genuine consumer-rights effort and more an attempt to generate attention and value for the associated token, regardless of the leaked material’s authenticity.
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