The GTA VI leak is the newest of many in gaming historical past

Rockstar Games confirmed as we speak that it has been hacked by an out of doors supply, which over the weekend revealed footage of Grand Theft Auto VI in improvement. Somebody uploaded dozens of movies on-line displaying off the in-progress title, revealing beforehand reported particulars in addition to utterly new stuff.

Allegedly the hacker who pulled off this theft did so by accessing the corporate’s Slack. In addition they declare they’ve the GTA VI supply code and can add it. Rockstar has since responded, saying it suffered “a community intrusion” and that it’s “extraordinarily disillusioned.”

That is removed from the primary time a significant leak has uncovered and probably derailed a significant recreation launch. The video games business has seen a number of incidents through which hackers steal and/or expose particulars about an upcoming recreation.

Half-Life 2 hack

One of the vital notorious situations of this occurring the Half-Life 2 leak in 2003. A German hacker leaked an early model of the sport greater than a yr earlier than it formally launched. The hacker, Axel Gembe, claimed he did it out of frustration at an absence of recent info. He additionally inadvertently (once more, so he claims) leaked the supply code, giving it to somebody who uploaded it to the web. He told Eurogamer, “There was, after all, a component of bragging happening. However the individual I shared the supply with assured me he would preserve it to himself. He didn’t.”

You may nonetheless discover footage of the unfinished model of Half-Life 2 on-line. Whereas it resembles the ultimate product, it’s clearly nonetheless in improvement. Valve’s Gabe Newell pleaded for the Half-Life group’s assist following the leak, and Gembe finally confessed to the crime. Half-Life 2, when it will definitely launched in November 2004, would go on to promote a minimum of 12 million copies worldwide. If nothing else, we are able to take from that leak the lesson that such a setback doesn’t have to paint the sport’s life.

Nintendo knowledge leak

One other sufferer of a significant leak — most likely the most important in current reminiscence till the GTA VI hack — was Nintendo. Extra particularly, it was the sufferer of a number of leaks in 2020, which included the supply code of a number of of its video games and consoles. The leak spanned a number of generations of consoles and video games, together with the Wii, Gamecube, a number of Pokémon video games and Mario titles. The quantity of data dropped within the “Gigaleak” was nearly exceptional.

This specific leak was not as damaging to the corporate in query as others on this checklist, if solely as a result of the video games and consoles in query had lengthy since been launched. It does give an unvarnished have a look at some traditional video games earlier than they launched, together with unused content material. Nevertheless, whereas financial harm might need been minimal, its nonetheless info and pictures that weren’t meant to be seen by Nintendo’s viewers.

EA, Capcom and CD Projekt RED

Incidents comparable to this seem like extra widespread — or a minimum of, extra public — as of late. EA reported that it’d been hacked in 2020, with the thieves taking the supply code for the Frostbite engine, FIFA 21 and different instruments. The hackers tried to extort EA for the data, and leaked it on-line after EA refused.

EA is only one of many corporations that reported such skullduggery in 2020. Capcom and CD Projekt RED have been each focused the identical yr. Those that took Capcom’s info revealed several in-development games which have since been formally revealed, together with Road Fighter 6 and Dragon’s Dogma 2. CD Projekt RED’s hack included worker info in addition to particulars about Cyberpunk 2077 and The Witcher 3. The hackers claimed to have sold some of that information after failing to extort CDPR over it.