If you have not followed GTA 6 news for years, this is why it matters. The game is the highly anticipated next part of Rockstar Games' very popular open‑world crime series, where players can roam made‑up cities, drive cars, finish missions, and cause a big chaos. The previous game, Grand Theft Auto V, was already released in 2013, so fans have waited more than ten years for this one today.

Three months before the expected launch and a week before a Netflix extended look, CyberLeek posted what looks like unfinished GTA 6 footage. The leaks include driving, fighting, a basketball mini‑game, flying, and images that claim to show the whole map. One clip even shows the main character Jason spray‑painting the word “Leek” on a wall, hinting that the source may have more than random video snippets.

Mashable is not hosting the alleged GTA leaks, which have not been verified, but the videos have gone viral on X and other social sites.

CyberLeek also posted a manifesto about consumer rights, launched its own cryptocurrency, and asked people to spend that token to vote on which clip should be released next.

If this sounds like a lot, it is. Let’s break it down.

CyberLeek is the name used by an unknown person or group that shares alleged GTA 6 development material. We do not know who runs it, where they are, or how they got the footage. It is also unclear whether one person or several people are involved.

CyberLeek calls itself a digital vigilante for video‑game fans. Its homepage shows “community voting,” “decentralized leeks,” and “no wallet connect,” under a pixel picture of a leek in tactical gear – yes, the vegetable.

CyberLeek also published a document called the “CYBERLEEK Edict,” a manifesto saying big game publishers have made the industry worse for players.

CyberLeek lists three “commandments” for publishers: no digital pre‑orders, no paid add‑ons that only unlock single‑player content already in the game, and no permanent loss of single‑player content when servers shut down.

CyberLeek says any publisher that breaks a rule could become a future target. It warns that leaks will keep coming until its demands are met, which is very unlikely.

The first CyberLeek videos appeared on Aug. 18 and seemed to show an unfinished GTA 6 build. One clip showed Jason Duval, one of the two main characters, shooting a basketball. Another showed him driving, fighting, stealing a car, and drawing police attention.

Later videos reportedly showed Jason and NPCs using tasers and a short cut‑scene.

CyberLeek also released images it says show the full map of Leonida, the fictional state inspired by Florida where GTA 6 is set. Fans have examined the footage for clues such as possible fuel gauges, weapon‑storage spots, and new ways to escape police.

If the footage is real, it looks like it comes from an unfinished development build – a version used while the game is still being created and tested. Leaker NateTheHate said the video is more than a year old, while Insider Gaming thinks it may date back to 2024 or earlier.

Anything in this version could be changed, improved, or removed before release. The videos have been downloaded and re‑uploaded many times, lowering quality each time. They do not reliably show what the final game will look like.

A further issue: Rockstar has not publicly confirmed any of the footage. Take‑Two, Rockstar’s parent, has filed copyright claims to remove the videos, indicating it sees the material as copyrighted, but this does not prove every CyberLeek claim is true.

AI‑generated “leaks” also appear often in GTA 6 fan circles. Some of CyberLeek’s material may have been altered or created with AI.

The newest video adds another twist to the ongoing discussion.

The clip starts with Jason flying a small plane over a detailed part of the game world while changing radio stations – typical gameplay footage. At the end, Jason stands in front of a wall and shoots enough bullets to spell “LEEK.” Earlier leaks could have been stolen recordings, but this clip would need someone to control the game live.

In other words, the person who recorded the clip may have had access to a playable build.

The clip could be misread or AI‑generated, but a playable build is a far more serious possibility than a simple folder of recordings. Why? Because a set of videos will eventually run out, while someone with a playable build could hunt missions, cut‑scenes, plot twists, or the ending and publish them before launch.

Mashable has asked Rockstar and Take‑Two many times about the footage but has not received new information.

CyberLeek’s clearest complaint is about digital pre‑orders. In the past, customers pre‑ordered games because stores had limited physical discs. CyberLeek argues that pre‑orders no longer help when the product is a digital download that cannot sell out.

“Pre‑orders were not created for gamers,” the manifesto reads. “They were created because physical discs had manufacturing limits.”

GTA 6 can be pre‑ordered digitally, but Rockstar is not releasing a physical disc. A boxed copy will only contain a one‑time download code, not the game itself.

Physical games are disappearing fast. In the United States, spending on physical video games fell to about $1.5 billion in 2025, the lowest in 30 years, as players shift to downloads, subscriptions, and cloud gaming. Current consoles like the PS5 Digital Edition and Xbox Series S have no disc drives.

In July, Sony announced it will stop making discs for new PlayStation games starting January 2028. Games released before then are unaffected, but future titles will be sold only digitally through the PlayStation Store and retailers. The news added fuel to the heated debate about the death of physical games.

CyberLeek has taken “complaining on the internet” a step further, turning frustration into a threat: Some leaked videos include the message “NO PHYSICAL DISCS? THEN MORE LEEKS!”

Digital pre‑orders do have benefits, such as letting customers download a large game before launch. CyberLeek argues publishers should not take money before a game is available or reviewed, because digital copies cannot sell out. “If publishers want revenue before launch, they can press discs,” the manifesto says.

Physical media is only one part of CyberLeek’s agenda. It also opposes charging players to unlock single‑player content already inside a game’s files. This may explain its criticism of GTA 6’s $99.99 Ultimate Edition, though there is no proof that its exclusive missions are in every copy.

CyberLeek also wants games to stay playable offline after servers close, citing Ubisoft’s The Crew, which became inaccessible in 2024. Rockstar has not said this will be an issue for GTA 6.

That preservation argument overlaps with Stop Killing Games, an international consumer campaign that urges publishers and governments to keep purchased games playable after official support ends. The campaign has rejected CyberLeek’s tactics, calling illegal methods “unacceptable” and urging people not to fund CyberLeek’s memecoin.

Yes, CyberLeek has also launched a Solana‑based memecoin called $CYBERLEEK.

For those who need a refresher, a memecoin is a cryptocurrency whose value depends mainly on internet hype and speculation rather than a real product or business. CyberLeek says its token will fund a secret project, technical infrastructure, and protection from corporate retaliation. It claims it is “not a cash grab,” but it has not explained the project or where the money goes.

The token is also how CyberLeek lets people vote on future leaks. Users send $CYBERLEEK to the option they want, and each token counts toward that choice. This means the results reflect how much cryptocurrency each option received—not necessarily how many individual people voted.

One poll asked users to choose the next video: a car during the day, a car at night, a motorcycle at night, or a plane during the day. The plane won after receiving more than 147,000 tokens, or 64.4 % of the total. CyberLeek then released the plane footage, ending with the “LEEK” message.

As of this writing, the plane poll and video are the most recent updates on the CyberLeek website.

It is a convenient cycle for CyberLeek: GTA 6 footage draws interest in its token, and anyone who wants to influence the next leak must acquire and spend that token.

How much is the cryptocurrency actually worth? As of the afternoon on Aug. 20, $CYBERLEEK was trading at about $0.001227 per token. Multiplying that price by the one billion tokens in existence gives a possible market cap of roughly $1.23 million.

The dashboard showed about $198,000 in liquidity – the pool of money available for buying and selling the token. With relatively little money backing a larger paper valuation, a few large trades could move the price sharply. It also showed $3.89 million in trading volume.

Ownership was concentrated, too. The ten largest wallets held 51.6 % of the token supply. Some of those wallets may belong to trading pools or bots, but this concentration means a small number of wallets could heavily influence the price.

The price has already been extremely volatile. The token surged shortly after launch and then lost much of its value. CoinGecko reported it was trading far below the record high it reached only one day earlier.

The short answer is that we don’t know.

The growing number of accounts pretending to be CyberLeek makes the answer even harder to find. In a statement shared through its official Telegram channel, CyberLeek said it only uses that channel and its website. Accounts using the name on X, Discord, Instagram, and elsewhere should not automatically be trusted as legitimate.

Impersonators have already posted supposed story details and leak schedules. CyberLeek denied one timeline circulating on Discord and accused other accounts of editing older posts to look like they knew about the leaks before they happened. In the same Telegram statement, CyberLeek reportedly called Arion Kurtaj, the hacker behind the huge 2022 GTA 6 leak, “our colleague,” according to fan account GTA Leaks.

There is also no proven link between CyberLeek and ShinyHunters, the ransomware group that claimed responsibility for accessing Rockstar data through a third‑party provider in April. Rockstar said that breach involved a small amount of unimportant company information and did not affect its operations or players.

Until CyberLeek explains where its footage came from – or investigators identify the people behind it – claims about its origin remain speculation. And although this situation is unusual, the game industry has seen huge leaks before.

The closest comparison is the 2023 ransomware attack on Insomniac Games, the studio behind PlayStation’s Spider‑Man series. After Insomniac refused to pay a roughly $2 million ransom, the Rhysida hacking group released 1.67 terabytes of stolen material, including a playable but unfinished version of Marvel’s Wolverine, story details, business plans, and sensitive employee information.

A leaker does not need the whole game to ruin its biggest moments. In April 2020, footage from The Last of Us Part II appeared online nearly two months before launch, revealing major character deaths and plot twists. People then deliberately posted those spoilers across social media. Sony later said the individuals responsible were not affiliated with Sony or developer Naughty Dog.

Then there is the risk of exposing how a game works. In 2003, German hacker Axel Gembe stole the source code – the underlying instructions used to build a game – for Half‑Life 2. The code and an unfinished version of the game appeared online before release. Gembe was eventually arrested after Valve helped lure him into contact with the FBI.

Fans are divided over what CyberLeek is doing.

In the comments under one post about the leaks, some celebrated finally seeing apparently legitimate GTA 6 footage after years of delays and hype, while others begged people not to amplify the leaks and risk spoiling the story. Unverified claims also say CyberLeek has information about Lucia Caminos, the game’s other main character, and her ending – no evidence currently confirms those claims. Still, if someone can create custom footage from a playable build, the possibility of story spoilers cannot be dismissed outright.

The leaker also has one more prime opportunity to create chaos. Netflix will debut an official extended look at GTA 6 on Aug. 27, before the presentation becomes widely available. Any footage released before then could spoil – or simply drain attention from – whatever Rockstar and Netflix have planned.

GTA 6 is set to launch on Nov. 19. Until then, fans who want to explore Leonida without knowing the whole story may want to mute “CyberLeek,” stay out of the replies, and hope the ending does not become an option in the next poll.

Topics Cybersecurity Video Games