Five examples of some leaks throughout Rockstar Games’ pretty long history in gaming

Rockstar Games make some of the biggest games in the entire world,and sometimes, eh, they leak.

Whether it be hackers,a mysterious source,or sometimes just a good old-fashioned whoopsie,here are five examples of some leaks throughout Rockstar Games’ pretty long history in gaming.

starting off at number five,

of course, we have to address
the elephant in the room,

the “Grand Theft Auto VI” leak.

Yes, believe it or not,

early development footage of
the game has hit the internet

thanks to, seemingly, a hacker

who got access to Rockstar Games’ stuff,

who dumped over an hour
of development footage

of the game onto the internet.

For obvious reasons, we
can’t show any of it here.

And hey, maybe you don’t
wanna be spoiled either.

This is pretty fresh as of
the time of making this video,

so the story is still developing.

But Rockstar Games themselves
did put out a statement

pretty quickly after it
happened, saying, and I quote,

“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 don’t
anticipate any disruption

“to our live game services
nor any long-term effect

“on the development of
our ongoing projects.

“Our work on the next ‘GTA’
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 there you have it.

There’s stuff out there.

The game is still very
much in development.

We don’t expect to actually
see “Grand Theft Auto VI”

anytime soon, probably 2024, at least,

so this is definitely spoiling their plans

to show the game off for the first time.

Apparently, the hacker, leaker
out there that did this,

wants to actually negotiate
with Take-Two and Rockstar,

and good luck with that.

We’re just gonna have to wait
and see where this one goes.

I’ve seen some people
wondering if this means

we’re going to see even
more leaks from the game.

And I’d say, I don’t know.

This seems to be a pretty
intense, corporate hack,

data breach type of thing.

Reports are suggesting that the hacker

who claimed responsibility for this

is also the one that hacked
Uber not too long ago,

and that was also a pretty intense one.

So who knows?

I think it is worth pointing out though,

at the top of this video,

that this is probably one
of the bigger game leaks

the game industry has ever seen.

I think this is probably the biggest.

I mean, there is a lot of stuff out there.

Not only that, like that aside,

the amount of content,
the amount of leaks,

it’s just for the fact

that it’s one of the biggest
video game sequels ever.

“Grand Theft Auto V” is so big money.

Like it broke so many records.

It’s like the biggest revenue-generating

piece of media ever created.

So the follow-up to that
is absolutely massive.

And for that to leak, even a
little bit in its early stages,

is pretty crazy.

But like I said, we’re
just gonna have to wait

and see where this one goes.

Next, over at number four,

believe it or not, time makes
people quickly forget things,

but “Grand Theft Auto V” leaked as well.

Granted, in a completely different way,

but it’s still worth
pointing out that Sony

was offering pre-order and
pre-load versions of the game

leading up to release.

And the last week of August 2013,

just a few weeks before the game released,

people were able to gain access
to certain “GTA V” assets

through downloading the digital pre-order.

Then, of course, after that,
all this stuff did get online,

giving people more of a look
at the game before it released,

including some spoilers.

And it was really a hot time for this

because along with this digital leak,

retailers or game stores that
got the game shipped to them

also broke the game’s street date

and started handing them out early.

So copies were floating in the wild,

both digitally and physically,

and there was definitely
some stuff out there

if you were willing to look for it.

In the grand scheme of things,

it probably wasn’t the biggest deal.

Obviously, for Rockstar
it was a huge headache

leading up to release,

and maybe some people did
get hit with some spoilers,

but ultimately, it’s a small footnote

in the history of the game.

The game that frickin’ released in 2013

and we’re still playing now,

which is still crazy to say out loud.

Next, down at number three,
“Red Dead Redemption 2”

was subject to tons of leaks

and rumors in the years
leading up to its release.

Some of them turned out to be true.

Many of them turned out to be false.

But one website seemingly got their hands

on confidential information,

actual corporate documents from Rockstar,

and leaked the information
of those documents

onto the internet.

According to the reports from
this website Trusted Reviews,

they leaked stuff detailing
the game, like full features,

including a battle royale
mode for the multiplayer mode.

And this was seemingly
deemed malicious enough

by both Rockstar and courts
to become a big thing.

Trusted Reviews’ parent company

reached a settlement
specifically with Rockstar Games,

and they took down the
article and the information

and replaced it with this statement.

“On February 6th, 2018,

“we published an article that was sourced

“from a confidential corporate document.

“We should have known this
information was confidential

“and should not have published it.

“We undeservedly apologized
to Take-Two Games

“and we have undertaken not
to repeat such actions again.”

This actually also resulted

in a $1 million settlement payout

that was donated to charities.

Definitely not smarter enough to comment

on the ramifications of this whole thing

and what it means for
journalism and leaks,

versus actively stealing
company information.

We don’t know the full story
behind the scenes there.

But at the very least,
I guess the net positive

is that a handful of charities
got a bunch of money.

It’s another situation where, ultimately,

after it was all said and done,

“Red Dead Redemption 2” released,

and it absolutely kicked ass.

Which, frankly, didn’t
really surprise anyone.

Next, over at number two,

of course, we gotta talk
about the Hot Coffee mod.

Oh, boy. What a time in history this was.

Essentially, there were
files in the PlayStation 2

and Xbox versions of the original release

of “Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas”

that threw a very
specific user-created mod

were opened up to expose
a seemingly canceled

sex mini-game in the game.

“San Andreas,” if you don’t remember,

had a really, really
basic relationship system,

where it would all go down
and you would do stuff,

and then you could go back to their house.

But with the Hot Coffee mod

it essentially exposed a
canceled mode in the game

where after you went inside,

you could then, you
know, do the sex thing.

So it’s worth pointing out that this one

is a leak in a different sense.

Essentially, it was a
mod created by people

to expose this locked-away
file hidden in the game’s code

of something that was
essentially scrapped content.

But the fact that it was
still available on the disc

and available to access,

seemingly pissed off a lot of people,

including lots of politicians

who already were taking a ton of issue

with the “Grand Theft Auto”
series over many years

and immediately took the chance
to dogpile on it some more.

What’s really significant about this one

is that it’s less about like,
“Oh, the game’s violent.

“Ah, it has bad things in it.”

Now they were able to easily say,

“Oh, there’s also sex in the game,

“and kids are playing it.”

Where the reality is,

it’s much harder to explain
to the average person,

they probably definitely don’t necessarily

understand how mods work

and how that content was
not intended for release.

But it didn’t matter,

they smelled blood in the
water and they ran with it.

It ultimately led to a lot.

The political side,

the call for people to
change the game’s rating

to adults only, it being
banned in Australia for a time,

and a rerelease of the game

where that content was
absolutely nowhere to be found,

whether it was hidden or not.

What’s worth pointing out,

and it’s kind of a going
theme for this video,

is that despite all of that,

“San Andreas” was really awesome

and people really, really enjoyed it,

and it became one of the best
“Grand Theft Auto” games.

I think that’s just a testament

to how good some games can be,
where they can totally resist

and power through all the controversy.

Sure, it was not easy at the time

for the people behind the scenes.

But, hey, the gaming industry grew

and learned from that one, for sure.

Now, down to number one,
speaking of “San Andreas,”

it’s worth pointing out that this game,

actually, also, completely leaked.

It was quite a time for online piracy,

and in 2004 “Grand
Theft Auto: San Andreas”

seemingly hit the street,

with some people getting their
hands on physical copies,

like, six days or so before release.

And because of that,

the game very quickly made
its way onto the internet

and on pirate sites.

Rockstar Games did respond, saying,

“Take-Two Interactive and Rockstar Games

“are aware that an
illegally obtained version

“of ‘Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas’

“and images from the game and manual

“have been posted to various sites.

“The proper authorities are investigating

“and downloading, possession,

“and distribution of ‘GTA: San Andreas,’

“including making the game
available on the internet,

“is theft.”

They essentially put out a call

for like, “Hey, if you know anything,

“if you’ve seen anything, let us know.”

I don’t know what it ultimately led to,

but to quote an old article
from GamesIndustry.biz,

from 2004, they said,

“While it’s common for
games to be released

“through pirate channels a
couple of days before launch,

“the leaking of Take-Two’s
biggest title in two years,

“and arguably the biggest
PS2 game of the year,

“a week before its launch,

“still represents a major
issue for the industry.”

And what do you think guys? I don’t know.

At this point, I think things
have only gotten worse,

or better depending on who
you are in this situation.

We’ve got one extra one.
A bonus one, if you will.

It’s definitely not as exciting.

But it’s still worth pointing out

that pretty much every game
leaked in some shape or form.

“Grand Theft Auto IV” also fell victim

to showing up online early

and pirated on various torrent sites.

Yep, a few days before the game’s released

a cracked version of the Xbox version

made its way onto piracy sites.

And along with that, a
bunch of leaked cinematics

and videos of the early
game popped up on YouTube.

So it’s kind of like,
if you think about it,

the more things change, the
more they stay the same.

I mean, this was back in April of 2008

and we’re still dealing
with the same stuff.

The “GTA IV” map also leaked early,

so none of these games are really safe.

But with all that being said,

these are five examples of times

where Rockstar Games’
projects have leaked.

Whether it’s through
reporting on a website,

illegally obtained versions of
the game, or a complete hack,

we just wanted to take a quick trip

down video game history memory lane.

That’s a really long name for a lane,

but I’m gonna run with it.

We’d love to hear what you guys think

about this stuff down in the comments.

Obviously, leaks are very
much in the news right now,

so the conversation sure is spicy.

Let’s talk.

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