The saga of the GTA 6 hacker who leaked massive amounts of data relating to the game ahead of release is long and bumpy. Here’s what happened.
Let’s take a trip down memory lane all the way back to 2022 before we had the first trailer for GTA 6. A time when fans of the franchise had absolutely no knowledge of what to expect for Rockstar’s next major open-world crime-spree simulator.
In this era of doubt and uncertainty came a major breach that opened the floodgates for speculation over the upcoming game. Through these GTA 6 leaks, we received confirmation that we would return to Vice City, have dual male and female protagonists, and much more.
Of course, the leaks came at a major cost to the individual who stole the information from Rockstar. So, what happened to the GTA 6 leaker?
There’s something poetic about cybercrimes relating to a game about criminal activity.
The GTA 6 leaks: A timeline
A refresher is likely in order given how long it has been since the initial GTA 6 leaks. In the intervening time, we’ve finally received official confirmation and a trailer and fans are going crazy trying to decipher when more information will come.
Long before this, the only fuel we had for speculation about the game was these historic leaks. Here’s a timeline of how it all unfolded:
September 18, 2022: One of the most significant gaming leaks of all time occurred showing off 90 image and video files of pre-alpha GTA 6 gameplay. The original leaks were posted on GTAForums by a user called teapotuberhacker but swiftly made their way to major social media platforms like X (Twitter at the time) and Reddit.
Among the extensive suite of clips and pictures, it was confirmed that the game would return to Vice City and feature a female protagonist, both of which had been theorized about previously.
The leaks also showed off vehicles, weapons, and NPC interactions. It was unclear if they were legitimate at first but when Take-Two Interactive used DMCA claims to have the content removed from certain platforms, they appeared to confirm their veracity.
September 19, 2022: News broke that the person who leaked the information was attempting to extort Rockstar Games by holding source code for GTA 5 and 6 ransom. This was confirmed by people who had reached out to the hacker pretending to be Rockstar employees and uploading screenshots of the ransom attempts.
On the same day, reporter Jason Schreier confirmed that the leaks were indeed real claiming that sources at Rockstar had corroborated the information. At this time, the GTA 6 hacker also claimed to have details regarding a canceled Bully sequel.
September 24, 2022: Following an investigation by the FBI, UK police arrested a 17-year-old suspect from Oxfordshire believed to be responsible for the GTA 6 hack. It was later confirmed that the teenager was, in fact, the GTA 6 hacker.
The hacker was identified as Arion Kurtaj, an affiliate of the Lapsus$ hacking collective that had been arrested previously in connection to cybercrimes against Microsoft, Cisco, Samsung, Nvidia, and Okta. At the time of this arrest for the GTA 6 hack, he was also suspected of participating in a hack of Uber.
July 17, 2023: For a long while, news relating to Kurtaj was quiet and players were left to speculate as to what GTA 6 would offer based on the videos and images from the leaks. Reports came from Reuters that Kurtaj had been assessed by a panel of Psychologists and deemed “mentally unfit to stand trial”.
At the time, many people thought this meant that the GTA 6 hacker had gotten away with the crime. What this actually meant is that Kurtaj would not participate in the trial but could still have a verdict rendered against him.
Take-Two InteractiveKertaj’s initial arrest for the GTA 6 hack happened when he was on bail for another cybercrime.
GTA 6 hacker’s sentence explained
Court proceedings began for Kurtaj’s case in November 2023. During the trial, it was revealed by psychiatrist Dr. Claudia Camden-Smith that in her evaluation, the GTA 6 hacker had expressed a desire to return to cybercrime if he was released from jail. Kurtaj even suggested that it was possible he would hack Rockstar for a second time.
This information coupled with the hacker’s level of skill caused the court to deem Kurtaj “a high risk to the public”. In light of the previous ruling that he was mentally unfit to stand trial due to his severe autism, the judge sentenced the GTA 6 hacker to an indefinite hospital order.
What this sentence means is that Kurtaj will be detained in a hospital prison for life unless the doctors at the facility can determine that he is “no longer a danger”. As of 2024, Kurtaj is still detained and has not been released from the hospital prison.
Rockstar GamesDespite how GTA 6 makes it look, crime doesn’t pay.
That is the entire saga of the infamous GTA 6 hacker up to this point. If there are any developments regarding Kurtaj in the future, we’ll be sure to update this timeline.
Of course, Kurtaj’s attacks weren’t the only GTA 6 leaks, we have a comprehensive list of every piece of information regarding the game that has ever broken ahead of schedule.
