GTA VI leak hunt widens

Take-Two Interactive has secured federal subpoenas requiring Microsoft and Discord to provide data that could identify the source of recent Grand Theft Auto VI leaks.

Two federal judges in New York approved the requests on Friday after Take-Two filed them a day earlier. The Rockstar Games parent company is seeking records linked to three accounts suspected of distributing unreleased material under the name Cyberleek.

The company used a process under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which allows copyright owners to request information that could reveal alleged infringers.

Its filings describe the leaked material as copyrighted audiovisual content, artwork, images, dialogue and other creative elements. However, neither Take-Two nor Rockstar has publicly confirmed that the clips circulating online are genuine GTA VI footage.

Microsoft received a subpoena because it owns GitHub, where some of the material was allegedly posted. Discord was named because the clips were shared through chatrooms on its platform.

Take-Two is asking Microsoft for records connected to the Cyberleek account and information from the company’s internal investigation. The request to Discord covers identifying details for named accounts and users who communicated through servers linked to the leaks.

Microsoft and Discord have until September 4 to respond.

Cyberleek claims the releases are intended to protest some of the video game industry’s business practices. Rockstar has faced criticism over plans to sell GTA VI only as a digital release and offer a higher-priced version with additional content.

New footage continued to appear on Friday, including a clip that reportedly shows a character stealing a sports car. Rockstar and Take-Two have not issued public statements about the videos.

The leaks come during a tightly managed promotional campaign for one of the industry’s most anticipated releases. GTA VI pre-orders opened in late June, while an exclusive extended presentation is scheduled to appear on Netflix on August 27.

The game is due for worldwide release on November 19 for the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S.

Set in a fictional region inspired by Florida, GTA VI arrives more than 13 years after GTA V. Its predecessor is the second-best-selling video game in history.