Rockstar spent years keeping Grand Theft Auto VI locked behind trailers, screenshots, and carefully planned reveals. Then August 18 happened.
An anonymo
us person or group calling themselves CyberLeek suddenly started dumping what appeared to be real GTA 6 gameplay onto the internet. At first it was just Jason playing basketball and driving around Vice City. Nothing too crazy. Then another clip appeared. And another. And another.
By August 25, this had turned into something much bigger: 14 gameplay clips, map images, new weapons, vehicles, stores, clubs, beaches, radio stations, NPC interactions, and even a first look at what happens when Jason gets Wasted.
Rockstar still hasn’t publicly sat down and said, “Yep, these clips are real.” Take-Two’s response has been a little less subtle, though. Copyright takedowns started hitting uploads almost immediately, and on August 20 the company filed subpoenas targeting Microsoft and Discord records as part of its attempt to identify whoever was behind the leaks. That’s about as close as we’re getting to confirmation without Rockstar actually saying it.
And somehow, CyberLeek just kept posting.
Here’s how the whole thing unfolded from the first leak through August 25.
August 18 — It Starts With Basketball, a Random Drive, and the Map
The first CyberLeek drop wasn’t some giant story spoiler or dramatic mission. Weirdly enough, it was Jason playing basketball outside his house.
Honestly, that probably helped the leak look more believable.
Jason walks outside the oceanside property we’ve already seen in Rockstar’s official material, grabs a basketball, and starts shooting hoops. Making a basket apparently increases his Focus stat, while the HUD also shows what looks like separate amounts for cash on hand and money stored elsewhere.
It’s exactly the sort of boring little activity someone faking a GTA 6 trailer probably wouldn’t bother creating.
The second clip was even more GTA. Jason drives around in a beat-up vehicle, gets into a crash involving a delivery truck, then gets out and attacks the driver. Nothing revolutionary, but it gave people their first real look at ordinary free-roam gameplay rather than Rockstar’s edited trailer shots.
CyberLeek also released images supposedly showing parts of the Leonida map, including locations such as Dalton Island and areas around the Keys. One image was being passed around as a possible full map, although that one deserved a lot more skepticism than the gameplay clips.
At that point people still had a pretty reasonable question: was this some insanely good fake?
Then the takedowns started.
Copies of the footage began disappearing under copyright complaints within hours. Rockstar itself stayed quiet, but suddenly everyone started taking CyberLeek a lot more seriously.
August 19 — Tasers, Key Cloning, the Weapon Wheel, and Zombix
Day two was when this stopped looking like someone who had found two random video files.
The third clip took place at night around an industrial or port area. Jason gets hit with a taser, takes the weapon from his attacker, and uses it himself. He can also pick up a security guard’s hat and wear it, which is exactly the kind of small interaction GTA players will spend ten minutes messing with for absolutely no reason.
More interesting was the vehicle theft system.
When stealing a truck, the footage apparently gives Jason different options instead of instantly teleporting him behind the wheel. The player can break into the vehicle or clone its key, before driving away in an MTL Packer.
The clip also contained part of a cutscene featuring Jason and Cal Hampton drinking on a boat. Cal makes a joke about hiding behind a VPN, which naturally became the internet’s favorite line considering who was leaking the footage.
Later that day came another clip usually referred to as “Junkies.”
This one revealed something players had been waiting to see: GTA 6’s weapon wheel.
The interface appears to use separate rings for weapons and inventory items, making it look closer to Red Dead Redemption 2 than GTA 5. Two healing items were visible, including an EpiPen and something called Zombix. The footage even suggested repeated Zombix use could reduce how effective the drug becomes.
Jason also gets into fights, steals a police motorcycle, and ends up in the water, giving another look at movement and swimming outside Rockstar’s carefully staged trailers.
By the end of August 19, the “maybe it’s fake” argument was becoming a lot harder to make.
August 20 — Flying Over Leonida and GTA 6’s Radio Menu
The fifth major clip finally took things into the air.
Jason was shown flying over Leonida in a large aircraft before later cycling through several radio stations. Names reported from the footage included Back Country Radio, Symphony FM, and Stockyard FM.
One particularly interesting detail was Stockyard FM playing Róisín Murphy’s Overpowered, a track released back in 2007. That doesn’t tell us what GTA 6’s entire soundtrack will look like, obviously, but it was our first leaked glimpse at how Rockstar may mix older music with newer tracks.
Then CyberLeek did something that made the footage even harder to dismiss.
The player fired bullets into a wall to spell out “LEEK.”
That’s pretty difficult to explain as someone simply stealing an old prerecorded Rockstar video. Whoever captured this footage at least appeared to be controlling the game directly.
August 20 was also when the situation stopped being just gaming gossip and started turning into a legal mess. Take-Two filed DMCA subpoena petitions seeking information from Microsoft and Discord that could potentially help identify people connected to the leaks.
Apparently that wasn’t enough to make CyberLeek stop.
August 21 — Stealing a Hypercar
The sixth leak switched back to something GTA players know very well: stealing ridiculously expensive cars.
Jason breaks into a Truffade Thrax, GTA’s Bugatti-like hypercar, throws the driver out, and takes it around Vice City.
The footage gave people a much better look at traffic density, lighting, vehicle damage, reflections, and normal driving away from the cinematic conditions used in Rockstar’s trailers.
August 21 also brought another piece of material into the discussion: an Xbox Graphics Capture file reportedly containing technical game data such as models and map terrain.
This is where things started getting messy online, because people began claiming that “the full GTA 6 build leaked.”
It didn’t.
A technical capture file and gameplay recordings are not the same thing as a playable copy of GTA 6. Claims that CyberLeek or another group had dumped the entire game were still unproven.
That distinction became pretty important a couple of days later.
August 22 — Robberies, Vehicle Damage, and the Strip Club
CyberLeek wasn’t finished with the Thrax.
The seventh video continued with a heavily damaged version of the same hypercar. Jason pulls into gas stations where the game displays Refuel and Repair prompts, although the footage apparently doesn’t actually show either feature being completed.
Instead, Jason does what GTA players have been doing since forever.
He robs the store.
The clip shows convenience-store robberies, police response, vehicle damage, and what appears to be a crash camera before Jason eventually reaches Delights Cabaret, teasing one of GTA 6’s strip clubs.
Then the eighth clip basically said, “Fine, you wanted the club? Here’s the club.”
The footage spent more than two minutes exploring the interior. Jason walks around the venue while NPCs interact, dance, and go about their business, giving a much better idea of how detailed indoor locations could be compared with GTA 5.
There were also more looks at usable equipment and contextual interactions around the environment.
At this point CyberLeek wasn’t really revealing one giant game-changing feature. Instead, the leaks were slowly exposing GTA 6 one ordinary system at a time.
And weirdly, that’s what made them interesting.
August 23 — Jason Gets Wasted and Vice City Gets Huge
Leak number nine started at a gas station and ended very badly for Jason.
The footage shows an NPC putting fuel into the back of a pickup truck. Jason eventually steals that truck, gets into trouble, crashes, and the fuel ignites.
Boom.
Jason dies.
That gave players their first leaked look at GTA 6’s Wasted screen. The clip also reportedly contains a “Return to Lucia” prompt, which immediately got fans theorizing about how freely GTA 6 will let players switch between Jason and Lucia during different parts of the story.
Just hours later came leak number ten.
This time Jason was flying over Vice City International Airport and the surrounding city. Instead of showing another random mechanic, this clip gave people a better sense of GTA 6’s scale.
The Vice City skyline, airport, roads, water, and surrounding environment could all be seen from above while additional music played in the background.
At this stage, CyberLeek had basically spent six days giving the internet an unofficial sightseeing tour of Leonida.
August 24 — Yep, GTA 6 Apparently Has a Nudist Town
Then things got very GTA.
CyberLeek’s eleventh video showed Jason visiting what has been described as a nudist settlement or retreat in Leonida.
And yes, the NPCs are actually nude.
The clip showed Jason wandering through the area while NPCs went about their business before, naturally, things eventually turned violent because apparently CyberLeek can’t visit anywhere in GTA without attacking someone.
The leak wasn’t particularly important for understanding GTA 6’s story, but it did show how far Rockstar seems willing to go when creating strange little places around Leonida.
If you’ve played GTA before, you already know half the fun comes from discovering locations that barely have anything to do with the main plot.
This looks like exactly that kind of place.
August 25 — Nightclub, Vice City Beach, and a Game Store
By August 25, CyberLeek apparently decided one leak per day wasn’t enough anymore.
Three separate gameplay videos appeared.
The first, leak number twelve, showed Jason entering the NINE1NINE nightclub in Vice City. The video runs for more than three minutes and gives a long look at one of the game’s busiest interiors.
Jason walks through crowds of NPCs drinking, dancing, vaping, using their phones, talking, and interacting with each other. He can sit at the bar, dance, greet people, and interact with women around the club. Songs heard during the footage reportedly included tracks from The Weeknd and Tove Lo & SG Lewis.
What really got people’s attention wasn’t the club itself.
It was the NPC density.
And leak number thirteen pushed that even further.
Jason rides an e-bike along Vice City Beach at sunset, passing what appears to be hundreds of NPCs scattered around the sand and water. People are sitting on towels, relaxing under umbrellas, walking together, standing near the ocean, and generally making the beach look far busier than anything we had in GTA 5.
Boats and jet skis could also be seen offshore, while smaller details such as sand deformation and fabric movement on beach equipment caught the attention of fans.
Then came number fourteen.
Jason walks into a video game store, complete with spoof consoles, game cases, merchandise, and arcade-style machines. It’s almost comically appropriate considering CyberLeek has repeatedly claimed the leaks are partly a protest against the gaming industry’s move away from physical ownership.
Three leaks in one day.
At that point, keeping track of them was becoming a game on its own.
So Did CyberLeek Actually Leak the Full GTA 6 Game?
This is where the internet has gotten way ahead of what we actually know.
CyberLeek has claimed access far beyond a handful of videos, and some reporting has suggested the footage comes from a playable build. The fact that someone appears able to interact with the game and even spell “LEEK” using bullet holes strongly suggests this isn’t simply a folder of old Rockstar marketing footage.
But that does not mean there’s a downloadable GTA 6 build floating around online.
As of August 25, what the public has actually seen is gameplay footage, map imagery, and some technical data. Claims that the complete playable game has been released remain unproven.
That hasn’t stopped scammers.
A supposed 113GB GTA 6 ISO started circulating after the leaks exploded. Researchers who looked at it said the file was essentially padded junk containing malicious code rather than GTA 6. In other words, if some random torrent promises you GTA 6 months before release, congratulations: the only thing getting robbed is probably your PC.
CyberLeek’s Motive Is Pretty Messy Too
CyberLeek says the campaign is partly about digital ownership, arguing against digital-only releases, digital preorders, and games becoming inaccessible after players have paid for them.
That’s the respectable-sounding part.
Then there’s the cryptocurrency.
CyberLeek has repeatedly promoted a Solana-based token alongside the leaks, with QR codes and messages appearing directly in some of the footage. That has made plenty of people question whether this is really some heroic consumer-rights protest or just an extremely elaborate way to turn GTA 6 hype into money.
Probably worth keeping that in mind before turning the anonymous leek mascot into gaming’s Robin Hood.
Eight Days Later, Rockstar Still Has a Problem
What’s wild about this whole situation isn’t any individual feature.
Basketball? Expected.
Strip clubs? It’s GTA.
Planes, beaches, robberies and expensive cars? None of that is shocking either.
It’s the amount of ordinary gameplay we’ve suddenly seen.
From August 18 through August 25, CyberLeek gave players an unofficial look at how GTA 6 behaves when Rockstar isn’t controlling the camera: stealing cars, fighting NPCs, wandering around clubs, driving through traffic, visiting stores, exploring beaches, flying over the city, and doing stupid things just because the game lets you.
In some ways, that’s more revealing than another cinematic trailer.
Rockstar’s official GTA VI Extended Look is scheduled for August 27, which means the company now has to reveal its own game after the internet has spent more than a week watching someone else do it first.
And considering CyberLeek managed to go from two harmless-looking clips to fourteen separate gameplay leaks in eight days, there’s really only one question left.
What the hell are they planning to leak next?
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