Rockstar confirms network breach, says work on the next GTA continues as planned

Rockstar Games confirmed on September 19, 2022 that an intruder had got into its network and downloaded confidential company information, which, by Rockstar's account, included footage from an early stage of the next Grand Theft Auto's development. Take-Two Interactive, Rockstar's parent company, reported the incident to US regulators the same day.

What Rockstar said

The statement appeared on Rockstar's official social media accounts on a Monday, following a leak over the weekend, VGC reported. Rockstar called the person responsible "an unauthorized third party" and said the data was taken illegally, according to the text of the post embedded by Game Developer.

The rest of the message made four points:

• Online games: Rockstar did not expect the breach to disrupt its live game services.
• Development: it expected no lasting harm to work on its current projects, and work on the next Grand Theft Auto would "continue as planned."
• How it felt: the studio said it was "extremely disappointed" that players had learned details of the game this way.
• The reveal: Rockstar said it would properly introduce the game "when it is ready," and that it would give players another update soon.

What Take-Two told investors

Take-Two put the incident on record in a Form 8-K filed with the SEC, under Item 8.01, "Other Events." The filing repeated Rockstar's account of the breach and added two points of its own: "Current Rockstar Games services are unaffected," and the company had "already taken steps to isolate and contain this incident." Like Rockstar, Take-Two said it did not expect the breach to hurt current services or push back development timelines. Matthew Breitman, Take-Two's general counsel for the Americas, signed the filing.

Game Developer noted that Take-Two's share price dipped as the news spread.

What it meant for players

On the surface, very little changed. Take-Two's filing said Rockstar's current services were unaffected, and both companies said the plan for the new game was intact. Rockstar also made clear that the first proper look at the game would still come from Rockstar itself, once the studio decided it was ready to show it. In the same message it thanked players for their support, VGC noted.

At that point the next Grand Theft Auto still had no formal announcement. Take-Two had told investors in February 2022 that development was "well underway," Game Developer recalled; Rockstar had said the same that month on its Newswire.

Days later, UK police arrested a teenager whom reports linked to the breach, and in November Take-Two's chief executive returned to the subject on an earnings call.

Leonidle does not describe, link or comment on anything from the leak. Our facts about the game come from what Rockstar and Take-Two have officially shown or said, and the timeline follows the story from this point to launch.