Since roughly a week before August 24, a leaker going by "Cyberleek" has posted nearly daily gameplay clips from Grand Theft Auto 6, most running two minutes or less. The footage has revealed new details, including the ability to fish, cars that need refueling, and a day/night cycle that appears to run about 144 real-time minutes per full in-game day — significantly longer than in GTA 5. Leaks and trailers have also surfaced apparent radio stations, including returning Vice City stations V-Rock and Emotion 98.3, along with dozens of songs spanning genres and eras.
One of the most recent leaks, titled "nudist_town.mp4," shows protagonist Jason observing uncensored nudity at an in-game nudist retreat through binoculars before an altercation ends in gunfire. Cyberleek has increasingly monetized the leaks, directing viewers to a cryptocurrency scheme via on-screen QR codes and holding fan votes on what footage to release next; the group says a strip club leak only went out after its cryptocurrency reached a $3 million market cap. Cyberleek has said the leaks are motivated by anger over GTA 6 launching without a physical disc option, though reporting notes the group has continued to profit from the leaks despite that stated grievance.
The latest leak included a demand that at least 10 people dress as leeks and protest outside Take-Two and Rockstar offices holding game discs during working hours. Within hours, someone did appear at Rockstar North's office in Edinburgh, recording a video with leeks, biting into one, and demanding more leaked footage. Rockstar has not commented publicly on the leaks since August 18, though Kotaku has reached out to the company about the incident.
Cyberleek has hosted the leaked material using Arweave, a decentralized storage protocol that makes full removal difficult, complicating standard DMCA takedown efforts by Take-Two. In response, Take-Two has pursued subpoenas against Microsoft and Discord for user data tied to servers where leaks have circulated, and reportedly obtained a similar court order targeting X. Discord has said it has not yet been served with a subpoena and will evaluate the request's validity and scope if it receives one; Microsoft, through Xbox CTO Scott Van Vliet, has said it is working with Take-Two and Rockstar to protect their intellectual property. A federal court granted the original subpoena requests on August 21, with a potential September 4 deadline for compliance, and some observers have raised concerns that the data requested is unusually broad, covering thousands of users.
According to Bloomberg reporting cited by GamesRadar+ and Polygon, Rockstar employees are described as "angry," "frustrated," and "exhausted" by the renewed leaks, which follow a 2022 breach after which the studio implemented stricter security, including a return-to-office mandate. Former Rockstar North technical director Obbe Vermeij, who worked at the studio from 1995 to 2009, has downplayed the leaks' significance, calling them "a nothing burger" and predicting little lasting damage, while also acknowledging that Rockstar North "overreacts a bit at times" even though pursuing legal action is "their job." Vermeij compared the situation favorably to the 2005 Hot Coffee scandal, which led to an Adults Only rating for GTA: San Andreas, an estimated $50 million revenue loss, and a $20 million settlement — damage he said the current leaks are unlikely to approach, even if story spoilers eventually surface. GTA 6 is set to launch November 19 on Xbox and PS5, with a Netflix-exclusive reveal scheduled for August 27.