GTA VI Leaks Cause the Worst Possible First Impression

This weekend saw one of the biggest leaks in gaming history. The hotly anticipated follow-up to the massive Grand Theft Auto VI was leaked online. I’m not going to dwell on how or who leaked this, but instead, I want to take a look at what exactly this means for the newest entry in Rockstar’s library. This is because this wasn’t any ordinary leaked trailer or screenshot. This was developer footage used for in house testing. So, it wasn’t exactly the big blockbuster reveal that Rockstar were hoping for. Grand Theft Auto is typically associated with larger than life trailers and characters- with a lot of sales success riding on the game’s first impression. After so many years and so much unbelievable effort put into a project, seeing everyone’s first reaction to it being some rough, unfinished test footage is devastating. In fact, Rockstar themselves revealed this in a public statement announcing their disappointment with what took place:

Of course, this reaction from the studio confirms that this leak was real, but more importantly, it gives greater context on what it means for the new GTA game. There were already rumours about a two character set up, with the first female playable character in the franchise’s history being leaked early this year. There were also heavy hints that the setting would be Vice City- a parody of the real world Miami. This was already seen in the titular ‘Grand Theft Auto: Vice City’, but it has yet to make an appearance in the mainline series. With all of this already pretty guaranteed from trustworthy sources, why is last weekend’s leak causing so much of an uproar? The answer is one simple word: gameplay. It’s usually rare nowadays to see gameplay of a game until months after its first reveal. This is especially true with the current age of CGI trailers and hyped up promises (look no further than Ubisoft’s recent Assassins Creed live stream for evidence of that). The first tangible thing we can actually see from GTA VI is some pretty rough looking mechanics- with shooting and running animations looking especially worse for wear. This isn’t the first thing you want people to see- especially for such a hyped up franchise. However, it’s still early footage for a game that is years off from release. So then, why are some people so angry?

As soon as the leaks made their way onto the internet, message boards, forums and every social media platform had their own discourse about the topic. While there was the reasonable mix of shock, questions and (from some) despair that their favourite game franchise has been leaked in such an anticlimactic way, there were also some more radical views put out there. The most interesting of these was the opinion that this test gameplay shows that Rockstar has gone downhill and that GTA VI is already doomed years before release. While it is understandable to be slightly underwhelmed by the footage shown (especially in today’s age of graphically polished masterpieces),the important aspect to note is that this really is only test footage. This is not a beta or even alpha build- this is still incredibly early in development. We can see temporary assets and animations that are clearly going to be tweaked massively before release, and gameplay mechanics ripe for an overhaul. To look at this build and believe that this game is going to be bad is an incredible assumption based on ten minutes or so of development footage. The next Grand Theft Auto is still years off, and given Red Dead Redemption II’s obsession with details, it’s unlikely Rockstar is going to skimp on their biggest game yet.

So, while the GTA VI leaks have left a lot of people unsure what to think, it leaves the game in a tricky situation. That big reveal is paramount to the success of a lot of blockbuster games, and to be delivered such an underwhelming first course is sure to leave a bitter taste in gamers mouths even when they get a hold of the game. Gameplay to Grand Theft Auto is what the story was to The Last of Us Part II, and their individual leaks damaged the narrative that their developers were (and are) trying to sell by a tremendous degree. Of course, Rockstar’s newest project has not received the backlash that Naughty Dog’s magnum opus was subject to. However, it still demonstrates that there is a lot that the studio has to do to remove this first impression from player’s minds. While I’m certain they have a huge cinematic reveal planned, it will never get rid of the anticlimax of this leaked gameplay. It remains to be seen what Rockstar plans to do to combat people’s thoughts about this underwhelming leak, but it’ll certainly take a lot.