You can wait another month and some changes to play GTA 6, right? I mean, everyone reading this who owns a console, still doesn’t have a PC release date anyway. Either way, I’m sure you can wait, and I’m sure you wouldn’t be stupid enough to give Cyberleek, that group of hackers who have been leaking clips of the industry’s impending end game for quite a while now, money in their own cryptocurrency just for playing it, right? Because that’s what the group asks you to do.
Earlier this week, Cyberleek apparently leaked a good 25 minutes of footage including a slightly scandalous look at co-star Jason. Now, on their website (I’m not linking you to it, obviously), they are threatening to release a playable version of the game. “Here’s the deal, nice and clean,” reads one group statement. “Cyberleek hits 30 million market cap, release releases – full story mode, played to completion, credits and all. Don’t believe it has a full story mode? Ask for what you want to see, and it’s delivered to you. Take-Two only has one way out: physical discs and a public apology. They can accept it at any time. Or they can bet CL is bluffing. Everyone knows which one they’ll choose.”
As of now, it’s still unclear whether Cyberleek actually has a playable version or not. Obviously, they have some access to in-game footage, but it’s entirely possible that this is all a bluff, and it’s almost certain that the group is looking to make a little profit from the whole situation. And if they have a playable version, if their real goal was to print physical discs and issue a “public apology”, why bother trying to extract money from the general public? That doesn’t seem like a necessary step to take if you ask me, and it makes the whole thing even fishier than it already is.
I wouldn’t bet on Rockstar/Take-Two capitulating to these demands. GTA 6 is going to be so massive that whatever damage a leak of that magnitude might cause, it probably wouldn’t be enough to make them suddenly decide to release it on discs, and an apology of any kind like the ones Cyberleek is seeking would only damage the most valuable thing they own: their brand identity. Besides, who knows what it would take to make the build work; most people probably wouldn’t have the actual know-how, let alone the PC specs to make it work, let alone the fact that the majority of people will be playing on console.
What a palaver! I can’t wait for the damn game to come out so we can focus on what’s really important: discussing whether the game design is outdated because it took too long to make.
