GTA 6 Leak Forces Stop Killing Games Movement to Distance Itself From Hacker Manifesto
· IGN
The Stop Killing Games movement has distanced itself from the manifesto published by the alleged group behind last night’s GTA 6 leak, and cast doubt on their motivations.
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Yesterday, two videos showing apparent GTA 6 gameplay, and an image reportedly of the complete map, hit the internet. The assets contain a watermark that advertises a cryptocurrency and a website that reportedly belong to a group called 'CyberLeek.' The website contains three demands of Rockstar Games and other video game publishers, seemingly in response to the all-digital future that has seen such backlash online in recent months.
Rockstar, specifically, has come under fire for failing to sell GTA 6 on a physical disc, forcing fans to download it or buy a box without a code inside instead. Rockstar also locks some content behind the more expensive $100 Ultimate Edition of GTA 6, which has also sparked some criticism. Meanwhile, GTA 6 preorders went live before gameplay was officially shown.
Contained within the CyberLeek manifesto is criticism of 2014 racing game The Crew, which was at the heart of the Stop Killing Games consumer movement. CyberLeek also threatened other video game publishers, presumably with gameplay leaks such as this one suffered by GTA 6. “Publishers should beware,” the manifesto concludes. “If CyberLeek can reach Rockstar, no one is safe. This is a message to all big corpo: behave, or be the next target.”
The Stop Killing Games movement was launched by YouTuber Ross Scott in April 2024 after Ubisoft shut down the servers for The Crew, rendering it completely unplayable. The grassroots campaign fights against the industry practice of rendering sold video games obsolete by pushing for legal frameworks and end-of-life offline modes.
The authenticity of the gameplay and map image remains unconfirmed, but it appears that Rockstar and parent company Take-Two are working to remove video uploads from across social media. Meanwhile, the memecoin advertised by the assets now has a huge amount of attention on it, although there is some concern online that it is part of a cryptocurrency scam. IGN has asked both Rockstar and Take-Two for comment.
Now, Stop Killing Games has published a statement in response, telling fans not to send CyberLeek any money, extending its sympathy to Rockstar staff, and suggesting the motivation behind this leak has nothing to do with concern over an all-digital future.
The statement in full, published to Reddit, is below:
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. 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. The group is using the leak to promote a meme coin, attaching crypto links and QR codes to the footage and asking people to pay for more.
Do not send these people your money, no matter how much sympathy you may feel for their actions. 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.
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.
Channel that frustration into something constructive instead. 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. 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. (We seriously doubt that the hack was seriously for that reason)
We are expecting for this to go on, and it is already being mentioned in our discussions with lawmakers, negatively. Do not participate or engage with these kinds of actions.
Stop Killing Games then explained why it felt compelled to issue a statement when it was not namechecked by the group allegedly behind the GTA 6 leak.
“What is indeed a problem is affiliation,” a representative of the group said. “Everyone is very, very mindful about this stuff in parliaments. We need the conservatives for a majority and they hate to be affiliated to something that behaves like this.”
In short, Stop Killing Games wanted to make sure it had nothing to do with this GTA 6 leak, does not support the people behind it, and doesn't want the leakers to come up during future arguments with politicians.
In June, the Stop Killing Games campaign suffered a setback when the European Commission said it was unable to propose a legal obligation to keep video games playable after they stop being provided commercially due to existing intellectual property rights. Under EU copyright law, the Commission said, rights holders enjoy exclusive rights over their creations.
The Commission pointed to existing EU consumer law, which forces video game publishers and developers to inform consumers about the duration and the conditions for terminating the contract before the consumers sign up for the video game. The Commission did, however, say it would talk with the games industry and consumer representatives to draw up an industry code of conduct on managing video games' "end of life."
Stop Killing Games has vowed to continue to push for change, and earlier this month it joined a lawsuit against Sony, claiming the company’s “monopoly” over the video game market is blatantly “against the law.” Sony is facing a number of lawsuits in a handful of countries following its controversial decision to stop printing physical games starting January 2028. This move has sparked renewed discourse surrounding the ownership of physical media, leaving players around the world fearful for the future of gaming platforms and what pricing will look like in an all-digital marketplace.
GTA 6 has suffered a number of leaks over the years. In 2022, more than 90 videos and images from an early version of GTA 6 were leaked online by hackers in what was one of gaming's biggest security breaches. "We take leaks very seriously indeed and they disappoint all of us, it's really frustrating and upsetting to the team," Take-Two CEO Strauss Zelnick said in response. The British teenager responsible was recently released from indefinite imprisonment at a secure hospital and is now awaiting a retrial.
In December 2023, the first GTA 6 trailer leaked on X/Twitter less than 24 hours before its scheduled premiere, leading to Rockstar officially posting the trailer on YouTube early. Rockstar developers took to social media to express their frustration at the leak, which Zelnick later called "disappointing." "In terms of the leak, that's always disappointing for the team, but ultimately, I don't think it hurt us," he said.
In April this year, Rockstar confirmed company information was accessed as part of a third-party data breach, but it insisted the incident had “no impact on our organization or our players.”
Assuming the GTA 6 leak is legitimate, it comes just days before the release of Grand Theft Auto 6: An Extended Look, which is a timed Netflix exclusive. That’s due Thursday, August 27, and will remain exclusive on Netflix for six hours before it makes its way to other platforms such as YouTube. GTA 6 is due out on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S on November 19, 2026.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].