GTA 6 Director Shares Thoughts on 2022 Leak: ‘Feels Like Someone’s Rummaging Through Your Laundry’

In 2022, Grand Theft Auto 6 experienced a significant and unprecedented leak, offering players an early glimpse of the still-in-progress open-world sequel. Fast forward four years, and just weeks before the game’s release on November 19, Aaron Garbut, head of development at Rockstar North, shared his thoughts on witnessing the leak spread across the internet.

On October 14, an in-depth report detailed Rockstar’s efforts on GTA 6, highlighting its growth into one of the largest game developers globally. In this report, Garbut candidly discussed the unsettling experience of seeing unfinished gameplay clips of GTA 6 circulating online, expressing how it felt in that moment.

“It feels like somebody’s wading through your dirty washing,” Garbut remarked. “It’s like they’re inside your head. You see your early work out there. Nobody’s ever supposed to see that.”

A veteran of Rockstar who has been part of the GTA franchise since its inception, Garbut described the experience as “weirdly invasive,” noting that it was “quite hard to deal with on an emotional level.”

In response to the 2022 leak, Rockstar Games began to roll back some of its work-from-home policies, and by 2024, all employees were required to return to the office five days a week. The company cited security concerns as the reason for this shift. Additionally, Rockstar prohibited developers from accessing company servers and tools remotely, forcing them to use vacation or sick days for childcare or emergencies. While Rockstar plans to reassess its policies after the launch of GTA 6, head of publishing Jennifer Kolbe expressed skepticism about a return to a hybrid work model anytime soon.

“The idea that we would have the game in that many environments is something that I think the security team would not love,” Kolbe explained.

“If we didn’t have a game that people wanted to steal as much, maybe it would be an easier conversation.”

Despite these measures, in August, a group began leaking gameplay footage of Grand Theft Auto 6 online. This led to frustration within the studio, as developers felt their sacrifices were in vain, with leaks continuing to occur. Recently, this group announced they would cease leaking GTA 6 clips.