Ex-Rockstar North tech director calls the GTA VI leaks "a nothing burger"
Obbe Vermeij, who worked on every GTA from GTA 3 to The Ballad of Gay Tony, says the CyberLeek clips are a tiny blip and nowhere near as bad as Hot Coffee.
Six days of leaked GTA VI footage, a full map image floating around and a leaker pushing crypto off the back of it. And the guy who actually lived through Rockstar's worst PR mess says relax.
That guy is Obbe Vermeij. IGN says he worked at Rockstar North from 1995 to 2009, and PC Gamer says he was technical director on every GTA from GTA 3 (2001) to The Ballad of Gay Tony (2010). So, not some random account with a cartoon avatar. His take on X: "Calm down everybody. The leaks are a nothing burger."
His reasoning is pretty simple. Rockstar keeps its games under wraps longer than other publishers as a marketing choice, and now "some footage has escaped. Slightly ahead of the Netflix thing next week." Most buyers won't even notice, he says: "90% of future players don't spend their time on the internet looking for video snippets. They don't have the time and don't want spoilers."
Then he brought up the big one. "I was there during Hot Coffee. It was a nightmare for management (RNewYork) but didn't affect us (RNorth) much. The current leaks are far less consequential than HC was." He reminded everyone what that mess cost: the game was pulled from US stores, could only be sold as 18+ until a new version was ready, and the damage is estimated at $50 million. Next to that, a few gameplay clips look like pocket change.
What about the talk that the leaker has a working build? Vermeij doesn't buy it running on your console: "If that is the case it probably only runs on a devkit. Devkits have more memory. There probably isn't a build in existence that would run on a retail PS5 at the moment." And if story cutscenes get out too? "That would suck but people will still play it." Replying to another user, he added "there won't be much damage if any." His big-picture call: "It looks like GTA VI will be phenomenal and sell for the next 15 years or so. The leaks are just a tiny blip."
Now the actual mess. According to IGN, an account called CyberLeek has dropped 10 gameplay videos and an image of the full map in six days. PC Gamer counts 11 leaks. GamesRadar+ says the footage is being used to promote a crypto scheme, and IGN says the leaker runs a crypto-fueled poll to decide which video comes next. Leaking somebody's game is one thing. Turning it into a pay-to-vote pump is a whole new level of trashy. Take-Two has subpoenaed Microsoft, Discord and X, per IGN.
IGN, citing Bloomberg, reports that Rockstar still doesn't know how the leaks happened or who's behind them. The Netflix reveal isn't being moved, and management has sent staff emails to keep morale up. Publicly, though? Neither Rockstar nor Take-Two has said a word about the leaks. The timed-exclusive Netflix reveal is about a week out, and the game launches in November.
One thing to keep straight: Vermeij left Rockstar in 2009, so this is his personal opinion, not a company line. Still, I'd bet on him being right. The people who'll buy this game by the millions aren't voting with crypto on a leaker's channel. Those of us who are terminally online, on the other hand... hold out until Netflix. I dare you.
