‘GTA 6’ Actually Looks Pretty Great For An Early Leaked Build

GTA Online

Rockstar

Yesterday, Rockstar suffered one of the worst leaks in gaming history as a hacker posted 90 videos from early builds of Grand Theft Auto 6, the hugely anticipated sequel that has been kept completely under wraps to date.

Naturally, a GTA 6 leak this big is a massive nightmare for Rockstar as they will have to scramble to figure out how this happened, how to prevent it from happening again and what sensitive information may have gotten out, or may still yet get out. It’s not good for development of the game.

But what the leaks showed was something perhaps a bit surprising. Despite the builds being incredibly early, with many labeled as being from 2021, and GTA 6 supposedly not being released until at least 2024 or beyond, much of the footage actually looked…pretty great?

Yes, the footage is covered in debug code and often uses placeholder assets, but the stuff that was there, even without polishing, looked quite good, including the environments and the non-placeholder character models for the main characters, Lucia and Jason. A segment where Lucia robs a diner had some interesting, very detailed NPC AI as they react to the robbery, and it all just looks…very good, especially for being what, potentially three years away from release?

GTA Vice City

Rockstar

Online, I’ve seen a lot of developers chastising fans who say the footage looks bad and jokes about how gamers don’t understand game development.

And yet I just…have not really seen that reaction being widespread.

So yes, this leak is hugely damaging to GTA 6 development given everything that came out and a hacker who at least claims to have the source code of the game itself. That could be devastating, if true. But what problem I’m not sure Rockstar has to contend with in the wake of this is that public perception of GTA 6 has dropped because of the early leaked footage. I’m just not seeing that overall reaction from the public, and if anything, the surprisingly good footage is reinforcing the idea that GTA 6 will be stellar when it’s finished and polished and not three years away from release.

As of yet, we have not heard anything official from Rockstar outside of takedown notices sent to all the places the footage went up. But I do wonder if they’ll now release some official news and looks at the game they can control, given that everyone’s interest is now piqued.

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