Dozens of gameplay videos from Rockstar Games’ upcoming “Grand Theft Auto VI” videogame were leaked online late Saturday night — and the hacker who’s taking credit for it also claims to be behind Uber Technologies Inc.’s recent data breach.
A GTAForums user by the name of “teapotuberhacker” posted 90 videos of scenes from “GTA VI,” the next installment of the massively popular “Grand Theft Auto” franchise that is still under development and years from being released. The videos were quickly distributed on YouTube, Twitter, Reddit and other videogame forums, though many had been removed by late Sunday afternoon after Rockstar owner Take-Two Interactive Inc.
TTWO,
filed copyright-infringement claims.
The videos showed unfinished gameplay, and it was unclear how old they were. PC Gamer first reported the leak.
The hacker warned of more to come: “Its possible i could leak more data soon, GTA 5 and 6 source code and assets, GTA 6 testing build,” they said on a GTAForums post.
Neither Rockstar nor Take-Two immediately replied to a MarketWatch request for confirmation or comment.
But Bloomberg News reporter Jason Schreier, who wrote about the upcoming “GTA VI” in July, said the footage appeared to be real, calling it “one of the biggest leaks in video game history and a nightmare for Rockstar Games.”
The hacker claimed to have obtained the materials after accessing Rockstar’s Slack and Confluence servers, and said they were also the hacker, nicknamed “TeaPots,” behind the recent Uber
UBER,
breach, a claim that could not be immediately verified. That breach, disclosed Thursday, was apparently conducted through a hacked Slack account. Uber on Friday said the intrusion did not expose any users’ personal information.
Take-Two shares have sunk 30% year to date, compared to the S&P 500’s
SPX,
19% decline this year.
