The 2022 Leak

The September 2022 breach: ~90 development clips and GTA V source code, the only large-scale GTA 6 leak Rockstar has confirmed as genuine.

Date

September 2022

Material

~90 clips; GTA V source code

Perpetrator

Arion Kurtaj (Lapsus$)

Confirmed by Rockstar

Within ~48 hours

Schedule impact

None, per Strauss Zelnick

In September 2022, roughly 90 in-development clips of Grand Theft Auto VI spilled onto the internet, the largest breach in the game's history and the only large-scale leak Rockstar has ever confirmed as genuine.

How it happened

The clips were posted to GTAForums under the handle teapotuberhacker by Arion Kurtaj of the Lapsus$ group, who carried out the breach while on bail for an earlier hack and under police protection in a hotel, using an Amazon Fire TV Stick, a hotel television and a phone. He also published GTA V source code and claimed responsibility for an Uber breach days earlier. Rockstar moved quickly, confirming the breach was real within roughly 48 hours and filing a regulatory disclosure.

Consequences

The leak forced Rockstar to confirm GTA 6's development publicly, well before it had planned to. Take-Two chief executive Strauss Zelnick later said the leak did not delay the game, which lines up with its eventual schedule. Kurtaj was found unfit to stand trial due to acute autism; a jury determined he had committed the acts, and in December 2023 he received an indefinite hospital order. The breach also hardened Rockstar's "zero-tolerance approach to leaks", a stance the studio has cited in later disputes, and its overhauled security is one reason credible leaks have largely dried up since.

With two official trailers now released, the footage can be graded against the finished marketing: see leak accuracy and the full 2022 leak accuracy scorecard.