Why GTA 6 leak reaction surprised ex-Rockstar developer

A former Rockstar Games developer has said that recent leaks about Grand Theft Auto 6 were not a big deal, despite it being one of the biggest data breaches in the history of the games industry. In a recent interview with San In Play, San Andreas developer Obbe Vermeij blamed the reaction on the company’s policy of remaining secretive about the game.

Vermeij stated that the September 2022 leaks “are usually not as important as people think.”

Notorious hacking group Lapsus$ caused nearly $10 million in damages to the affected companies. An 18-year-old hacker, Arion Kurtaj, was sentenced to an indefinite hospital order after releasing 90 clips from the highly anticipated GTA 6.

He managed to breach Rockstar’s internal systems and threatened to release the game’s source code unless contacted by the company. Remarkably, he carried out the hack while under police protection and without his usual tools, using an Amazon Firestick, a hotel TV, and a mobile phone.

Why Rockstar has been quiet about GTA 6

In response to the leak, Vermeij said: “It’s just because there are millions of people waiting for any news, and Rockstar doesn’t give them any news.” The developer has spent the past few years revealing details about the making of the studio’s previous games.

Came across this rare photograph of the dev team behind gta3.
This would have been taken in 2000/2001 in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland.
(names in comments)#gta #gamedev #og pic.twitter.com/bjZsPlAeks

— Obbe Vermeij (@ObbeVermeij) December 7, 2023

While he explained that he can “totally understand” why studios generally never divulge information about their games, he added that “their best bet is just to be quiet. That’s what they’re doing. It’s a shame it’s gone that way, but it’s not just their fault.”

The ex-GTA 3 developer continued, saying that studios tend to behave this way “because whenever a big company says anything, whether it’s Rockstar or EA or Ubisoft of whatever, it gets analyzed and it often gets run negatively.”

Rockstar Games reported substantial financial and operational impacts due to Kurtaj’s actions, including a recovery cost of $5 million and extensive staff hours.

GTA 6 is expected to be released in fall of 2025.

Featured image: Rockstar Games