Following the leak of the Grand Theft Auto 6 trailer, Rockstar developers took to social media to express their bitter disappointment.
Less than 24 hours before its anticipated debut, the GTA 6 trailer leaked on X/Twitter and immediately spread like wildfire across social media. The leaked trailer contained a giant crypto watermark, making for a poor viewing experience for fans.
While the X/Twitter leak account was suspended, the post had thousands of likes before the trailer was pulled, which means plenty of fans saw it before Rockstar intended.
Rockstar soon followed-up by releasing the real trailer to its channels with a self-deprecating comment: "Our trailer has leaked so please watch the real thing on YouTube."
Multiple Rockstar developers took to social media to express their disappointment at what had happened. “This f**king sucks,” one GTA developer said in a now deleted post on X/Twitter. “I was hoping to watch this for the first time tomorrow along with my fellow teammates and coworkers. I feel we deserved that moment.”
“Well, that f**king sucks,” said another Rockstar developer in an also deleted post. Rockstar graphics programmer Angel Ortiz also commented on social media: “I'm actually not going to watch this until I'm in the office with the people I made this with and who worked so f**king hard to make it happen.”
Then: “Okay, we watched it together. Let's f**king go.”
“F**king seriously?” asked a Rockstar senior programmer. “Sorry for the rage, but the trailer leak is just so disheartening. I was really looking forward to watching the premier with everyone. A lot of people were.”
In another deleted post, a Rockstar senior gameplay designer said "would have been nice to do this with all of you at the same time."
Here’s some more reaction from Rockstar developers:
Sad that it was shown this way, but still super stoked to finally let the world see what we’ve been working on! Hope y’all enjoy 😊 https://t.co/lAhYXcn4p8
— Jay Marsden-Bullen (@jayMarBu) December 4, 2023
Shame it had to be released like this, but so excited to finally get to show off what we’ve been cooking https://t.co/puDUSqeKEs
— Matthew Rennie (@YoungBootHat) December 5, 2023
sad that it came out this way, but couldn’t be more excited to be working on an amazing project with amazing people 🌟 https://t.co/1L1MjuJwee
— zara :) (@elysivms) December 4, 2023
The GTA 6 trailer leak has spared a discussion about video game leaks generally, and how damaging they can be to game companies as well as the actual people who make games.
"While the cat and mouse game of leak/not leaked is fun to follow on social, let me tell you it sucks from the inside," said Josh Stein, senior social media manager at Xbox. "Teams work literally hours, days, weeks, nights, to build the best rollout to capture the attention of social media and go loud and proud for the community. Leaks utterly ruin that and waste a ton of work and also risk flat spinning your whole marketing message.
"There's going to be a lot of people missing time with family, friends, love ones tonight because they have to work late hours to accommodate for a leak. As someone who went through it myself, it sucks the fun outta marketing and I wish it never happened."
Here's some more reaction from across the industry:
The thing I hate most about leaks is that it takes the voice away from the developer. What we should all be looking for is dialogue between devs and communities. But when something leaks, it just becomes fucking noise. It isn’t what you want.
— Very AFK (@Cromwelp) December 5, 2023
Error leaks are incredibly unfortunate. Theft leaks for clout or early exposure are so bad and so damaging for so many.
— Ralph 🕶️ (@RalphJodiceJr) December 5, 2023
Can't believe this happened and really feel for the 1000's of people who would have wanted to have that moment of watching it go live together. The consolation is that the quality of the teams work really shines though. https://t.co/UFEc1Ice42
— James Jarvis (@James_Jarvis) December 4, 2023
“They suck,” another developer said of leaks. “People that do them suck for no real benefit other than a quickly expiring and very temporary ego boost from said leakers. You may get the followers, but you won’t ever have the respect.”
Clout chasing weirdos ruining this huge moment that devs have worked hard towards for years absolutely fucking suck. https://t.co/DswptHocGj
— Ryan T. Brown 🎮 (@Toadsanime) December 5, 2023
Gaming leaks:
— Mike Diver (@MikeDiver) December 5, 2023
Demolish complex plans.
Demoralise developers.
Largely lead to delays.
Anyone celebrating gaming leaks/leakers is directly damaging the health of an already very fragile industry.
Despite the leak, the official GTA 6 trailer is already record-breaking, with an eye-watering 63 million views in less than 24 hours. Parent company Take-Two and Rockstar have announced a 2025 release window and mention the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S platforms only, potentially leaving PC gamers out in the cold.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.