Rockstar Games is once again the victim of hacking, as GTA 5 source code has been leaked after the developer suffered from a massive leak last year about the then-unannounced GTA 6. A major leak has now revealed the source code of GTA 5 and much more confidential details, including GTA 6 and the Bully sequel.
These back-to-back leaks prove how unhappy employees are partly responsible for such leaks, and hacking has always been the greatest enemy of the industry that leads to delays in game releases beyond the planned release dates, and sometimes even the games get canceled.
Did GTA 5 Leak Originate from Unhappy Employees or Are Hackers the Only Ones Responsible?
Rockstar has faced several challenges since last year as it saw a massive leak in September 2022 that resulted in more than an hour of gameplay comprising 90 early development footage of GTA6 showing locations, characters, and more from the game. The trailer for GTA 6 was also leaked a day before the official release date prompting the developer to release it early.
Now the leaked stuff has again brought a headache for Rockstar as the source code for GTA 5 is leaked including information about several canceled DLC expansions. Moreover, it is also claimed that employee information such as contact details has also been leaked. The original links were removed soon but it hasn’t stopped the circulation of the source code. Take-Two is reportedly actively working on removing the links online by issuing DMCA takedown notices.
It was previously hinted that the source code of GTA 5 was also leaked last year but it remained under wraps until now before the latest leak revealed the source code on Discord and dark web. The leaks also revealed details about Bully 2 and portions of GTA 6 code and confirmed that the game was codenamed “Project Americas.”
This could have many implications for both players and developers and proves how hacking has always been the enemy of the gaming industry. These leaks are said to be part of last year’s leak and now that the main perpetrators of the leak are under arrest, these leaks come from other people who could be associates of the main leakers.
The gaming industry has been a main target of hackers, and the main reason is to get money in exchange for stolen information. Since the gaming industry has been growing at an amazing rate with billions of dollars every year, it is an appealing target for hackers. What’s more, millions of people play games, and hackers target players’ personal information that can be used for identity theft and other malicious purposes.
Sometimes hacks are also to make a statement and gain notoriety, and whatever the reasons, the gamers and developers face the consequences, as sometimes the games are delayed for developers to fix the code and other aspects of the game so that nobody can exploit the vulnerabilities and players have a good gaming experience.
The leaks also sometimes lead to games getting shelved, and even if they are released, it may impact the sales of the titles, internal challenges at the company, and, changes in strategy, which may result in extra spending, and more. Additionally, another major enemy of the industry is disgruntled employees as they might also sometimes leak information.
Rockstar also faced a Red Dead Redemption 2 leak when an unhappy employee allegedly leaked that players would be playing as Arthur Morgan in the game and then later deleted his account. This was shocking to many and also saw players unhappy as they wouldn’t get to play as John. This shows how sometimes crunch culture in the industry can lead to employees leaking stuff.
For those unaware, crunch culture is when employees are asked to work overtime without any pay, and this could be a major factor behind the leaks. There have been instances in the past when leaks have come from employees at other companies and these leaks are often true but disregarded at first. Many companies are now taking precautions to face these threats from such employees as well as hackers to prevent leaks.
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