Halo, Baldur's Gate 3, and Xbox devs decry the GTA 6 trailer leak: "When something leaks, it just becomes f***ing noise"

05.12.2023 - 13:09 / gamesradar.com / Michael Douse

We've finally got our first official look at the next Grand Theft Auto game, though one sour note hung over what should have been a more joyous occasion. The GTA 6 trailer leaked before Rockstar intended to show it, so we got it early. 

Having something you worked on leaked to the public before you get to do the reveal resonates with the broader games industry because everyone goes through it. Sometimes, it’s a news scope; other times, it comes down to one person posting a rough cut of something online for their five seconds of fame. Regardless, though, many developers agree it’s a bummer.

“The thing I hate most about leaks is that it takes the voice away from the developer,” Larian Studios director of publishing Michael Douse says. “What we should all be looking for is dialogue between devs and communities. But when something leaks, it just becomes fucking noise. It isn’t what you want.”

Xbox senior social media manager Josh Stein adds; "While the cat and mouse game of leak/not leaked is fun to follow on social. Let me tell you it sucks from the inside."

"Teams work literally hours, days, weeks, nights, to build the best rollout to capture the attention of social media and go loud and proud for the community. Leaks utterly ruin that and waste a ton of work and also risk flat-spinning your whole marketing message."

"There's going to be a lot of people missing time with family, friends, loved ones tonight [because] they have to work late hours to accommodate for a leak. As someone who went through it myself, it sucks the fun outta marketing and I wish it never happened."

That's very much the gist of the conversation right now, with many saying that it's a shame that the event-like atmosphere likely to come with a GTA 6 trailer reveal was somewhat spoiled. Halo senior community manager John Junyszek puts it simply: "Don't be a leaker."

It's something that Rockstar devs has commented upon themselves. In a now-deleted Tweet, one developer says they were "hoping to watch this for the first time tomorrow along with my fellow teammates and coworkers" before saying, "I feel we deserved that moment." Another, taking a more humorous approach, rounded things off with a popular community meme.

ah shit, here we go again https://t.co/clKd61zR2bDecember 4, 2023

Now that the trailer is here, we’ve got plenty of titbits to tide us over. The GTA 6 trailer reveals that the much-anticipated game releases in 2025, and that it’s coming to Xbox Series X and PS5 on launch. Not ideal for PC gaming fans, though, if history suggests anything, it’ll come to PC eventually.

Here are 12 things you may have missed from the GTA 6 trailer . How many did you see?