The GTA 6 Leak With a $250,000 Crypto Question

Scott Francis Winder (0:04)

Welcome to Hacked.

Jordan Bloemen (0:05)

Welcome to Hacked. I want to start this episode by talking about a very big, very public, very profitable video game leak.

Scott Francis Winder (0:15)

Normally leaks aren't associated with profit, Jordan. Tell me more.

Jordan Bloemen (0:19)

What a time to be alive. On August 18th, a group or person or like a gentic swarm, it's really hard to know nowadays.

Something calling themselves Cyber Leak starts publishing gameplay footage from Grand Theft Auto 6 that the developer of that game Rockstar had not released yet. Clips of the game, Scott, the big game, the big game that everybody is waiting for.

Scott Francis Winder (0:47)

The world is waiting for people are signing up for Netflix to see trailers in advance of people.

Jordan Bloemen (0:55)

We're hungry for clips of that crime Florida life, that five star life. I guess it's six stars in this one. You can go up to six stars. People, all these clips start going live of people fighting in the game, driving in the game, basking in the Florida energy. There's maps in the leak. There's videos of the characters, our cool crime protagonists. This was all before that big Netflix reveal that you mentioned, Scott. So people are like, they're hungry for this game. This leak of all of this video is a really, really big deal. 17 of these leaks fall over the next 10 days.

And alongside the footage that they were leaking, they were framing the leaks as a type of protest.

The group CyberLeak published a set of gaming demands on the website, and it's pretty classic stuff. End digital-only pre-orders, end downloadable content held back from the game at launch, guarantee that the single-player games remain playable without a server connection, like hurrah gamer stuff.

And each leaked clip links back to this website, which cited kind of the big reason for all this is Rockstar's $100 Ultimate Edition and the decision not to release it as a physical disc as why they were the target of this. Big leak, big public statement. They're selling a box with a download code in it, boo. High level, that's it. For like a week in really nerdy corners of the internet, that was a thing.

Scott Francis Winder (2:22)

So this is like a cyber protest.

Jordan Bloemen (2:25)

Exactly.

Scott Francis Winder (2:26)

Done by what I would call people of our generation and older that care about physical media, owning games, offline play.

Jordan Bloemen (2:39)

Old hacker shakes fist at clouds type stuff.

Scott Francis Winder (2:42)

Yeah.

Jordan Bloemen (2:43)

But at the same time, and this is where it gets interesting and I wanted to talk to you about it, the group also launched a crypto currency.

Scott Francis Winder (2:52)

Why not?

Jordan Bloemen (2:53)

Why not? It's called Cyber Leak. Just call it the same thing. Who even cares? It goes up at the same time, at the same day as that first leak. In a post about this token, because like you hear that and you go, what's the story there? They write, quote, Cyber Leak is raising funds for a secret project. The specifics cannot be revealed yet. Let it be absolutely clear. This is not a cash grab.

No, Scott, no laughing. It's not a cash grab.

Scott Francis Winder (3:22)

Sorry. Yeah, sorry. I was too busy thinking about whether the special project was some form of prediction market or online gambling system, because I feel like the whole I bet on crypto, make money on crypto is now gaming prediction markets. Like I feel like that audience is moving. And, you know, just the sheer fact that they went crypto is kind of an old school thing to do. Again, furthering my theory that these are like 40 year old people.

Jordan Bloemen (3:50)

Sure. You're like they could have been on cal she making fat stacks.

Scott Francis Winder (3:53)

Yeah, yeah. They could have had a will at GTA 6 see a leak.

Jordan Bloemen (3:58)

Sure.

Scott Francis Winder (3:58)

By the entire yes side of the argument, pump up the no side and then retire a little while later.

Jordan Bloemen (4:06)

A couple of days rock stars. You brought this up already. Big GTA 6 reveal is going up on Netflix. A 27 minute long like to call it a trailer is like it's just like a little movie. Did you watch it?

Scott Francis Winder (4:18)

I did not watch it. You know, watch somebody that's excited for the game to come out and was a big fan of GTA 5 I could not have been bothered to watch a 30 minute prelaunch trailer.