Rockstar Games has confirmed that leaked footage of the next instalment of the company’s wildly successful Grand Theft Auto series is authentic.
A third party had illegally accessed footage of GTA IV and posted it online, in what Rockstar’s owners Take Two Interactive called a “network intrusion”.
Over 90 videos of the hotly anticipated video game were posted to an online forum, GTAForums, showing it in its development phase, by a user called “teapotuberhacker,” who has claimed responsibility for the hack.
The user also claimed responsibility for hacking Uber recently.
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Leaked videos reveal details like the location, the main characters and other central features in GTA IV.
Rockstar issued a statement Monday which read: “We are extremely disappointed to have the details of our next game shared with you all in this way.”
GTAForums’ website now features a banner on its homepage instructing users not to share links to the copyrighted materials.
Jefferies analysts said the leak is the largest in recent memory, however it is not expected to hurt the game’s sales.
“It’s a PR disaster, possibly sets back production, and hurts morale,” they wrote in a note Monday.
“However, based on what we see, the game is further along than many believe and won’t impact game reception/sales.”
Rockstar is characteristically tight-lipped on its game releases, with information on upcoming games rarely getting out unless it comes from the game makers themselves.
