Rockstar Says GTA Leak Won't Affect Development

Grand Theft Auto development studio Rockstar Games has confirmed that the huge GTA 6 leaks that appeared online earlier this week are genuine, but says the leak will not affect the game's development.

"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," Rockstar wrote in a statement published to Twitter on Monday. "At this time, we do not anticipate any disruption to our live game services nor any long-term effect on the development of our ongoing projects."

The leak in question revealed nearly 100 videos of GTA 6 in an early stage of development. Those videos showed gunplay, fully voiced conversations between characters, driving mechanics, and more. It appears to confirm the game will feature GTA's first playable female protagonist, and that it will be set in or near the fictional Vice City introduced in 2002's Grand Theft Auto: Vice City.

"We are extremely disappointed to have any details of our next game shared with you all in this way," Rockstar's statement continues. "Our work on the next Grand Theft Auto game will continue as planned and we remain as committed as ever to delivering an experience to you, our players, that truly exceeds our expectations. We will update everyone again soon and, of course, will properly introduce you to this game when it is ready. We want to thank everyone for their ongoing support through this situation."

Bloomberg video games reporter Jason Schreier says despite Rockstar's assurances, the fallout from this leak could be wide-reaching.

"To those who asked: There are several reasons this is a nightmare for Rockstar," he tweeted Sunday. "One is that it'll disrupt work for a while. Another is that it may lead management to limit work-from-home flexibility. The repercussions of this leak might not be clear for quite a while."

The hacker who originally posted the videos on an online message forum over the weekend claims they were also behind targeting rideshare company Uber last week. They have since indicated they have even more material to reveal.

"I am looking to negotiate a deal," they reportedly posted.

Rockstar Games has not indicated when it would next reveal official information about GTA 6. The studio announced the game earlier this year.