Take-Two Interactive just watched $2.83 billion vanish from its market value after Cyberleek dumped a trove of unauthorized GTA 6 clips online. The parent company of Rockstar saw its share price slide from $248.13 on August 18 to $232.84—a $15.29 plunge per share that sliced 6% off the market cap in days.
CEO Strauss Zelnick insists there’s been “no financial impact.” Then again, he’s not the one staring at the numbers.
This isn’t Rockstar’s first rodeo. Back in September 2022, early development footage leaked and ran up a bill of at least $5 million for cleanup, data recovery and legal fees. They yanked staff back into the office, killed work-from-home policies and fired off DMCA takedowns like confetti. The stock recovered fast, and if anything, the hype for GTA 6 only grew.
But Cyberleek isn’t playing by the same rules. Since August 20, the leaker has dropped map previews, cutscenes, snippets of a basketball minigame, a taser theft and assault, a gas station heist. In one clip, protagonist Jason Duval pilots a plane over Vice City then fireplace the word “LEEK” into a wall. That’s not just footage. That’s someone with a playable build.
The videos now race across X and Reddit, their GTA-like movement and mechanics looking awfully familiar.
Take-Two struck back on August 20, filing subpoenas in New York’s Southern District Court to unmask Cyberleek, demanding Microsoft and Discord hand over details. They call it stolen content, copyright violations. The clips keep spreading anyway. Meanwhile Cyberleek has doubled down, even urging fans to protest outside Rockstar’s doors.
One actually did. A lone provocateur showed up at Rockstar North’s Scotland HQ waving a raw leek, bawling, “Enough is enough, drop the beach leaks for all the incels.” The internet ate it up.
Obbe Vermeij, Rockstar North’s former technical director, calls the whole thing a nothing burger. He points out ninety percent of future players won’t spend hours hunting clips online. Back in 2005 the Hot Coffee mod blowup roiled gamers way harder. San Andreas still moved 27 million copies. Vermeij expects GTA 6 to sell for the next fifteen years, spoilers or no.
Still, the leaks grated on some fans who moan about lack of innovation. Others ignore it. All eyes turn to Netflix this Wednesday, August 27, when Rockstar drops its official extended look.
With three months to launch, the studio wants the story back. The immediate hit to Take-Two’s coffers is undeniable, whatever Zelnick says.
Cyberleek’s identity? Still a mystery.
