On Sunday, the entire world of gaming shook when, out of nowhere, nearly an hour’s worth of gameplay footage from Grand Theft Auto VI leaked online. Although fans debated whether the footage was real or not (considering how many previous fake “leaks” spread around in the past), Rockstar soon confirmed the footage to be legitimate. However, the company is far from thrilled.
From taking down videos with copyright claims to the company’s official statement, Rockstar Games made it explicitly clear it is not happy about the hack. While on one hand, that is an extremely reasonable stance for a large company. From Rockstar’s perspective, a security breach this large could mean other confidential information is at risk. Then you add in the fact all of the footage is extremely early (pre-Alpha), and you have content that the company definitely was not ready to reveal.
Now, we know that the individual responsible for hacking both Rockstar Games, and also Uber, is a 17-year-old teenager from London. The City of London Police revealed they arrested the teenager yesterday evening in Oxfordshire, following an investigation supported by the UK’s National Cyber Crime Unit.
Although this chapter of the story may have closed, the long-term ramifications of the Rockstar Games hack and GTA VI leak is far from over. Yet, I don’t think it’s all bad. In fact, I believe the leak may even benefit Rockstar and help build further hype for its next game.
Is this a hot take? Perhaps. Though I wouldn’t dare make such a claim without further points to support it. So, let’s take the Grand Theft Auto leak away from the legal perspective and examine how Rockstar Games can benefit through the lens of a fan.
A fan’s perspective on the leak
However, from a GTA fan’s perspective, the leaked Grand Theft Auto VI gameplay is an early Christmas present. For years, we sat around waiting for and wondering if there ever even would be a GTA VI. In fact, it wasn’t until this year that Rockstar themselves even confirmed its existence at all.
Even with new rumors circulating about the game’s content, player expectations for GTA VI were all over the place. With some fans setting the bar too high and other fans fearing a potential flop, there was absolutely nothing solid to base a foundation on for the title. Now, we have (albeit not representative of the final product) a better grasp at what the game will actually entail, and something solid to have hope for.
Therefore, as hot of a take this may be, I believe Rockstar Games owes the hacker who leaked Grand Theft Auto VI a thank you. Here are three reasons why:
1. Fans fell out of love with Rockstar
With each passing year and each reincarnation of Grand Theft Auto V, public opinion about Rockstar Games started to take a nose dive. Once seen as a company that set a gold standard for video games, Rockstar was becoming just like every other major AAA developer. By capitalizing on micro-transactions in the form of Shark Cards on GTA Online, meanwhile making zero announcements about a new game in the franchise, it seemed like the company was turning its back on the fans. In return, fans began to turn their back on them as well.
To make matters worse, last year, Rockstar Games unveiled the mess that was Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy. The abysmal “remaster” of GTA III, Vice City and San Andreas came packed so full of bugs, the collection of games needed an exterminator instead of a simple patch update. Jokes aside, the move felt like a lazy cash-grab. Even without the glitches, none of the games featured improvements significant enough to warrant a remaster, and the graphics look arguably worse than their PS2 counterparts.
That isn’t to say that Rockstar hasn’t had any recent successes. For example, 2018’s critically-acclaimed Red Dead Redemption II still stands out as one of the best in all of modern gaming. However, it didn’t take long for the company to abandon updating Red Dead in favor of returning back to bringing players more GTA Online content. As a result, Red Dead Online swiftly died and fans moved on.
All of this resulted in Rockstar Games as a whole beginning to garner a negative reputation. Therefore, while having your security measures breached and pre-Alpha gameplay leaked to the internet is far from an ideal scenario, at least the incident has fans excited about a new title from the company.
2. Grand Theft Auto VI is making headlines
They say that all publicity is good publicity, and I tend to agree for the most part. In the case of the leaked gameplay of GTA VI, especially, I think Rockstar Games will feel the benefits. Simply put, planned or unplanned, people are talking about the game. And for the most part, they’re excited!
Is it frustrating to the marketing team who likely spent hours upon hours into developing the perfect plan to showcase the game? Yes. Will it ultimately dampen the reception of the official announcement trailer (whenever it drops), though? I don’t think so.
Maybe I can’t speak for all GTA fans, but if anything, I’m more excited to see what Rockstar has to show us. After all, I spent years hyping myself up for a new GTA, only to feel let down time and time again. I honestly don’t think it serves any game developer/publisher well to be that secretive about your projects. From a fan’s perspective, the excitement dwindles as the silence grows louder.
Although I’m not defending the hack overall, as Rockstar most certainly needs to take online security seriously. After all, hackers could steal far more serious information than video game footage, such as confidential employee information. However, apart from implementing tougher firewalls, there’s another opportunity sitting in Rockstar Games’ lap.
With that said, the gameplay leaks brought with them a renewed relevance to GTA VI. While we’re a way’s off from release, I wouldn’t say it’s too early to begin an official marketing campaign. Even a teaser trailer for the new game would help keep the momentum rolling. And Rockstar definitely needs to snowball the momentum right now, especially given Take-Two Interactive’s massive nosedive in the stock market following the leak.
3. The game actually looks really good
Okay, so the GTA VI leaks have fans talking about the game again. And players at least have an update that Rockstar really is well underway in development of a new title. In turn, this definitely restores some faith in the company on its own. However, none of that would matter if the leaked gameplay sucked. Well, as it would turn out, what we got to see is really impressive and worth the hype.
Yeah, you have some bozos making unsound claims that the leaked footage looks like Watchdogs. However, any gamer with at least half a brain and a passing understanding of development knows that pre-Alpha graphics don’t even slightly resemble how the final game will look. With that understanding in mind, it becomes that much more impressive, that GTA VI actually already looks really good.
Additionally, even after stripping away the visual element to the game, the actual core mechanics are cause enough for excitement. For instance, players will have more control over their characters than ever. New abilities like going prone and running while crouching make control far more dynamic than its ever been.
Not only that, but features like directly picking guns off the ground and still holding onto your weapon when you switch make for a more realistic and immersive experience. For fans of RDR II, that’s especially good news. That’s because those detailed animations are part of what made that title feel so lifelike. Including more dynamic animations is more than a welcome inclusion to bring into GTA.
However, even if you’re a fan of the more-whacky side to GTA, the leak has something for you too. Two sci-fi vehicles including an air-boat and the beloved jetpack both appear within the code.
GTA VI leaks: short-term turmoil Vs. long-term hype
In the short-term, the GTA VI leaks are definitely harmful to Rockstar, and the company has every right to be upset. As I stated previously, digital security is more important than ever, and the publisher needs to make sure their servers are more secure to prevent future (and potentially more harmful) data breaches. Following the breaking news that the London-based teenager responsible is now behind bars, Rockstar can also rest assured that they will not have further confidential information leaked by this individual.
However, my stance remains that in the long-term, this leak will do more good than bad for the company. Given how great the early footage looks, we can only imagine how fantastic the final product will be. As a longtime GTA fan, I’m more hyped for GTA VI than I have been in years. And as someone who almost never pre-orders a game, when the time comes, I may have to make an exception.
But what do you think? Did the leaked gameplay from GTA VI make you more excited for the game? Or do you share Rockstar’s own sentiment of disdain and disappointment? As always, share your thoughts with us in the comments!
