GTA 6 made waves when Rockstar Games announced that it would be digital-only and lock some single-player content behind the digital deluxe edition. You can count leakers among the folks who are concerned about these moves from the storied developer.
In case you missed it, a new GTA 6 leak made the rounds online last night, supposedly showcasing gameplay (combat, driving, and all) as well as the full Leonida map.
Rockstar responded in turn with DMCA takedowns – but perhaps most interestingly, attached to the leakers' online profiles was a manifesto of sorts… one railing against practices like selling digital pre-orders ("if publishers want revenue before launch, they can press discs"), "fake" single-player DLC, and demanding that single-player content be preserved with "an offline failback state." The leakers say they "will not stop" until targeted publishers "issue a public statement and apology with a concrete commitment to be better," and claim to be "raising funds for a secret project" of sorts.
It does admittedly reek of some kind of cryptocurrency scam, however, with various crypto tags and whatnot on the leakers' page – but one of those demands has caught the eye of Stop Killing Games, the video game preservation movement spurred by Ubisoft's 2014 shutdown of The Crew, and it's safe to say the folks behind it aren't exactly happy.
In a new statement on Twitter, Stop Killing Games makes its stance on the GTA 6 leaks quite clear. "Footage from GTA 6 has leaked, and a group of hackers, whom we will deliberately not name here, to avoid giving them further attention, claims responsibility," it reads. "The footage itself appears to be genuine: Take-Two has already been hitting it with DMCA takedowns, and the speed of those strikes is itself a strong signal of authenticity."
It then alludes to the leakers' crypto links and what have you.
"Do not send these people your money, no matter how much sympathy you may feel for their actions," Stop Killing Games states. "This is illegal, and frankly, we feel for everyone at Rockstar having to go through this ordeal again, especially just over a week before Rockstar's own official 'Extended Look' premieres."
The post is referencing the GTA 6 extended look coming to Netflix next week here, which will show off more of the game.
Stop Killing Games continues: "Using illegal means to make a point is unacceptable to us and does nothing to protect our right to keep using what we paid for. No matter how strongly you disagree with the decisions of upper management at these companies, there are still thousands of developers who worked hard on this project – and they're the ones being hit the hardest."
The thread offers an alternative to the leakers, too.
"Channel that frustration into something constructive instead," it outlines, explaining how making such demands of big publishers like Rockstar might only backfire – and citing the GTA 6 leak debacle from years back in which the teenager responsible was caught, only to be later deemed psychiatrically unfit for trial and subsequently, set to spend life in a secure hospital unless he was deemed to no longer be a danger by doctors (it was reported last month that he's now awaiting retrial).
It was a rough situation all around, to say the least.
"This kind of act is destructive and helps no one, worse, it risks tarnishing the reputation of our communities and our chances to make change," as Stop Killing Games says.
"History isn't on the leaker's side either: the last person who did this to Rockstar, back in 2022, ended up with an indefinite hospital order. This isn't a cause worth risking your money or your future on" – if that's what this leak was "seriously" about, anyway.
There's no telling, regardless, really – but I do personally agree with Stop Killing Games here. This isn't helping on any end, and it's evident it won't actually push Rockstar (or any other studio) to change its mind about going digital-only.
