As the hacker group Cyberleek continues to leak gameplay footage from Grand Theft Auto VI, Take-Two has officially issued subpoenas requiring Microsoft and Discord to provide information related to this leak incident.
As players are well aware, this highly anticipated global title has been under tight security for years, with protection levels comparable to Fort Zancudo in the series, yet it recently suffered a massive wave of leaks. Gameplay clips began circulating online on Tuesday, with new content released almost daily since, exposing more and more of the Leonida map.
Although many speculated that Cyberleek had been caught within 24 hours, the group just released another new video, leaving people curious about how Rockstar and Take-Two will respond. Neither company has publicly commented on the matter this week, but court records indicate that officials are actively advancing their investigation to trace the source of the incident.
According to gaming media outlet Kotaku, Take-Two Interactive, the publisher of Grand Theft Auto VI and parent company of Rockstar, submitted subpoenas to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on August 20, requesting that Microsoft and Discord provide all relevant information regarding the leak in order to identify those responsible for publishing and disseminating the content.
The subpoena specifies that copyrighted content includes "audio-visual materials, art assets, images, dialogue, and other creative elements," essentially covering all currently circulating leaked content from Grand Theft Auto VI. Microsoft is required to submit all internal business records related to the "Cyberleek account holder" by September 4.
As expected, the core purpose of this subpoena is to confirm the identities of users, individuals, and/or entities associated with the account holder, while also demanding a wealth of information such as related Discord servers, account IDs, registered email addresses, last login IP addresses, and linked accounts. In short, Take-Two is employing every available means to track down the operators behind Cyberleek.
Of course, given Grand Theft Auto VI's consistently high level of secrecy and the upcoming major gameplay showcase, the impact of this leak is significant, making the official response unsurprising. Cyberleek likely anticipated this outcome when they started releasing videos, but if Rockstar and Take-Two ultimately succeed in identifying them, they will face serious legal consequences.