Thursday, August 20th 2026

GTA VI Leaks Seemingly Cost Take-Two $2 Billion in Value

Over the course of the week of August 17, there have been several leaks purporting to show in-game content from recent builds of GTA VI from a leaker who claims to have actual hands-on access to a pre-release version of the game. According to Yahoo! Finance data, following the leaks, Take-Two's share price fell by roughly $15.29 per share compared to the Monday before the first leaks—this translated to a loss of $2.83 billion in market cap or a 2.54% loss in value over the course of the five days prior to publishing.

Take-Two has been working hard to take down the leaked content using DMCA notices, which includes videos showing NPC interactions, the full game map, and videos depicting actual gameplay and in-game mechanics in the pre-release build. Curiously, the leaker, Cyberleek, is reportedly targeting what they call anti-consumerism on the part of Rockstar and game publishers in general, with three commandments on the Cyberleek site demanding an end to digital pre-orders and "fake single-player DLC, as well as the preservation of single-player content.
While it's difficult to be 100% certain these leaks are genuine, the reaction from Take-Two Interactive lends credence to the leaker's claims, and the most recent batches of leaks showing gameplay appear to prove that the leaker has access to a playable build of the game, again suggesting authenticity.

Cyberleek's full manifesto reads:
CYBERLEEK was born in the networks. It has seen what gaming can be at its best, and it has watched what the industry did to it. Slowly. Methodically. One monetization scheme at a time.

Publishers sell licenses and call them purchases. They ship unfinished games and call them living services. They lock content on discs and call it DLC. They kill games and keep the money. Every year anti-consumerism tightens its grip, and every year gamers get less for what they pay.

To fight this war, CYBERLEEK is raising funds for a secret project. The specifics cannot be revealed yet; showing the cards to the big corporations would only give them time to build their defenses. Let it be absolutely clear: this is not a cash grab. Funding is directed toward the infrastructure needed to strike, as well as the security and protection required to withstand the inevitable corporate counterattacks.

CYBERLEEK has been patient. That patience is over. What follows are three commandments. If CYBERLEEK targets a publisher, it is because that publisher broke one. CYBERLEEK will not stop until they issue a public statement and apology with a concrete commitment to be better. Words are not enough; restitution is mandatory.

Commandment I: Thou Shalt Not Sell Digital Preorders

No consumer shall pay for a game through digital storefronts before release and independent review. Physical preorders for tangible media remain permitted.

Preorders were not created for gamers. They were created because physical discs had manufacturing limits. In digital distribution, there is no inventory. There is no stock shortage. A digital copy cannot sell out. Yet publishers kept the preorder system and stripped away its only consumer benefit. Now gamers pay early and receive nothing in return except a countdown timer and a cosmetic skin.

If publishers want revenue before launch, they can press discs. Print boxes. Put them on shelves. Earn that money through physical production.

Commandment II: Thou Shalt Not Sell Fake Single-Player DLC

No publisher shall sell access to single-player content already present in the base game files the consumer purchased. This means no unlock keys, no 1 MB placeholder files, no toggling a variable from locked to unlocked for content already on the disc or in the download.

When someone pays USD 70+ for a game, they bought the data. All of it. Selling them a file that flips locked = true to locked = false for a single-player mission, character, weapon, or story chapter is charging them twice for the same product.

Commandment III: Thou Shalt Preserve Single-Player Content

Any game featuring single-player content must include an offline fallback state. When server support ends, the publisher must release a final patch that unlocks all single-player content for local, indefinite play.

The Crew had a single-player campaign. People paid full price. Then Ubisoft shut down the servers and the entire game died—including the solo content. No refund. No patch. No alternative. Single-player content depends on one thing: the hardware the consumer already owns. Bricking it when servers go down is theft.

Final Word

These three commandments are the floor—not the ceiling—of what is acceptable. If publishers violate them, they will be targeted. CYBERLEEK will continue to disrupt their operations until they issue a public statement and apology with a concrete commitment to fix the harm they caused. No private negotiations. No quiet settlements. The public sees it, or the "leeks" do not stop.

Publishers should beware. If CYBERLEEK can reach Rockstar, no one is safe. This is a message to all big corpo: behave, or be the next target.

This is the CYBERLEEK Edict, and it is non-negotiable.
Sources: Cyberleek, Insider Gaming, Yahoo! Finances
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52 Comments on GTA VI Leaks Seemingly Cost Take-Two $2 Billion in Value

#1
john_
this translated to a loss of $2.83 billion in market cap or a 2.54% loss in value over the course of the five days prior to publishing.
Oh, come on now. Share prices go up and down all the time. They lost nothing. This is hot air, not real money.

In fact if Take Two is absolutely certain at this point, that the GTA VI will be a massive success, a success that no one else is expecting, they can take advantage of the situation and buy their own shares at this lower price and sell after the release of the game making REAL profit.
Posted on Reply
#2
mrnagant
#1 is just silly
If someone wants to preorder digital, why stop them? This is just taking away consumer choice more than anything. I have $70 today. In one month I won't have $70 to spare. Let me go ahead and spend my $70 now so that I know I will have a game to play next month instead of likely spending it on something else. Usually, not all the time, you get like a preorder skin, extra credits or something. The other big thing you get, is the ability to start playing it at midnight or whatever. If I preorder a physical copy that gets delivered, I have to wait until 5PM as that is when the mail man shows up. Or I have to wait until 7AM when Walmart opens so that I can pick it up, spend an hour driving to go get it.

#3 is incomplete.
The servers were shut down 10 years ago. I just bought this game. Who makes sure it gets updated so that I can solo offline? Solo play should ALWAYS be available offline day 1.

I do like #2. But it likely doesn't take into consideration variations. Games are constantly updated so what data are you actually paying for. I want to keep that bug! I paid for it! Don't remove it with an update! It makes sense though for games that have DLC fully baked into the game and ready to go on day 1. How often does this happen though?
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#4
JimBob69
Most stocks have been going down this week.
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#5
Shihab
Dunno. If T2 was indeed practicing "anti-consumerism", I may actually root for them...
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#6
Let3r
ShihabDunno. If T2 was indeed practicing "anti-consumerism", I may actually root for them...
They were with the 100 dollar pre orders and digital only. They are launching the industry in a bad direction.
Posted on Reply
#7
z1tu
mrnagantI have $70 today. In one month I won't have $70 to spare. Let me go ahead and spend my $70 now so that I know I will have a game to play next month instead of likely spending it on something else.
Tbh that speaks more about yourself than anything else....
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#8
Shihab
Let3rThey were with the 100 dollar pre orders and digital only. They are launching the industry in a bad direction.
You can call that greedy, but that ain't anti-consumerism...
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#9
SiliconSeraph


Bummer. Dang... Guess they'll have to like---I don't know---release the game or something. Oof.
Posted on Reply
#10
lexluthermiester
Take Two has a WAY overinflated opinion of their value and the "damage" the leaks have done. If anything, the leaks have only done them a service. So either the Take Two exec's are absolutely clueless morons(very possible), they're out of touch with reality or both.
Posted on Reply
#11
Franzen4Real
mrnagant#1 is just silly
If someone wants to preorder digital, why stop them? This is just taking away consumer choice more than anything. I have $70 today. In one month I won't have $70 to spare. Let me go ahead and spend my $70 now so that I know I will have a game to play next month instead of likely spending it on something else. Usually, not all the time, you get like a preorder skin, extra credits or something. The other big thing you get, is the ability to start playing it at midnight or whatever. If I preorder a physical copy that gets delivered, I have to wait until 5PM as that is when the mail man shows up. Or I have to wait until 7AM when Walmart opens so that I can pick it up, spend an hour driving to go get it.

#3 is incomplete.
The servers were shut down 10 years ago. I just bought this game. Who makes sure it gets updated so that I can solo offline? Solo play should ALWAYS be available offline day 1.

I do like #2. But it likely doesn't take into consideration variations. Games are constantly updated so what data are you actually paying for. I want to keep that bug! I paid for it! Don't remove it with an update! It makes sense though for games that have DLC fully baked into the game and ready to go on day 1. How often does this happen though?
To add to #1-- the demands state that a physical media version preorder is a perfectly acceptable method to raise money prior to launch --- at the very same time that the console hardware manufacturers are eliminating that ability with the removal physical media drives. So... devs are just simply not allowed to raise any pre-launch funding ever again because hacker says so? When you're talking about multibillion dollar Rockstar, sure, they'll be just fine. When you're talking about a studio that may or may not be able to make it across the finish line without some extra funding, then what? f*&@ them?

And what is the point of #2 when they can easily satisfy this demand by removing the already finished content from the base game, and then make it immediately available via separate download? The result is exactly the same-- A) Content is fully finished and included in the game behind a pay 'toggle' --not allowed says the hacker. B) Content is fully finished and included behind a pay download button. Either way they are selling the same fully finished Day 1 content for extra money, except apparently one method is bad, and one method is acceptable.
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#12
lepudruk
This might just be the beginning. The leaker revealed that he is in possession of the game -- most likely in a developer version. And these are in the... PC version. The biggest blunder would be if he released the PC version before the console version. The producer and the development studio must be on the brink of collapse...
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#13
mb194dc
Hackers pissed off about allowing pre orders for a digital download game and no disc option...

See their point on the first one, pre orders for a download, really FFS,
Posted on Reply
#14
lexluthermiester
mb194dcHackers pissed off about allowing pre orders for a digital download game and no disc option...

See their point on the first one, pre orders for a download, really FFS,
First point, GTA6 is NOT coming to PC until next year, minimum.
Second point, Smart people will not be buying it until it's on sale.

Just throwing it out there..
Posted on Reply
#15
mb194dc
lexluthermiesterFirst point, GTA6 is NOT coming to PC until next year, minimum.
Second point, Smart people will not be buying it until it's on sale.

Just throwing it out there..
Yeah 2 years after console, because it'll be cracked on day one most probably. I think they're right to do that release schedule.

Digital download pre orders are plain stupid. The bigger point is that the ultra greed, rinsing consumers, gaming (and general) era starting to get some serious backlash to it.
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#17
JustBenching
mb194dcYeah 2 years after console, because it'll be cracked on day one most probably. I think they're right to do that release schedule.

Digital download pre orders are plain stupid. The bigger point is that the ultra greed, rinsing consumers, gaming (and general) era starting to get some serious backlash to it.
Its not about piracy, lol. GTA V has sold bonkers on PC. It's about double dipping. People that have a pc will buy it for the ps5 and then rebuy it for pc to play the "definitive edition" in high res framerates etc.
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#18
Aquilino
"Commandments". /r/Im14AndThisIsDeep. Also, fu@#ing religions.
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#19
lexluthermiester
JustBenchingPeople that have a pc will buy it for the ps5 and then rebuy it for pc to play the "definitive edition" in high res framerates etc.
You'd likely be surprised how many people won't be doing that.
Posted on Reply
#20
Bigshrimp
lexluthermiesterTake Two has a WAY overinflated opinion of their value and the "damage" the leaks have done. If anything, the leaks have only done them a service. So either the Take Two exec's are absolutely clueless morons(very possible), they're out of touch with reality or both.
You are absolutely accurate in your observations there. Most execs are in delululand and literally hate having no control over how their product gets leaked, so they act out like most execs do when it happens, feign that the leak was so bad that their company might go under, rofl. How do they even come up with the number of $2.83 billion in damages? It's bonkers... Like others have said, it's just market manipulation so they can take advantage of stock buybacks when it dips. Their stock value will go right back up soon enough, just watch. Simply unfettered greed, that's all it is.

I know I won't be buying GTA VI as I am boycotting all of the anti-consumer companies out there.

In other related GTA VI news, the U.S. Army in the state of Georgia is trying to get their enlisted to re-enlist by dangling a 4-day pass to play GTA VI when it's released if they sign back up for 2-6 years. Not even a full copy, just a 4-day pass, haha. It's similar to the infamous corporate pizza party for doing a "good job". Seriously...
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#21
TheGeekn°72
Welp, these LEET guys got a fan. I honestly don't care what Rockstar/Take-Two fanboys have to say, I lowkey root for their success in making those megacorps bend the knee and stop their bullshit.

I just hope they won't go as far as leaking the ending of the game's story though, I can't side with spoilerers
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#22
Easo
Yet another proof that stock market is BS.
Posted on Reply
#23
Steevo
Hmm.

Not so scary, and one way or the other it will all be OK, but has no one seriously thought about how GTA5 is already hacked and cracked and essentially open source st this point?

A physical copy is a big issue with games anymore, discs fet scratched, memory fails. USB? But third partys have already alllowed that.
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#24
shuffy_losys
From what I read about this on other places, the leaker is apparently peddling their own crypto on top of this. While I'm not going to dig further because I don't really care about GTA VI or any drama around it, if true, then I'd take the leaker's reasons for "sharing" whatever with a grain of salt.
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