GTA 6 Gameplay Footage Leaks, Leaker Claims to Be Protesting for Players' Rights

Jason stands on the balcony of a waterfront mansion, does a few reps on some exercise equipment, hops over a railing, walks past a jet ski, picks up a basketball, and sinks a shot. After the make, a "focus" meter pops up in the top-left corner and starts rising — this is the moment from the two leaked Grand Theft Auto VI clips that players are most eagerly screenshotting and dissecting, since it hints at an RPG-style skill progression system being added to the game.

This clip, along with another action sequence and a screenshot of a world map labeled Leonida, surfaced in corners of the internet recently. Rockstar Games has issued DMCA takedown notices against accounts spreading the content in an attempt to curb its spread, but the level of detail in the footage is specific enough that many are inclined to believe it's genuine.

The Leonida map is shaped like a compressed, warped version of South Florida — a large city sits on the east side, which based on GTA V's logic would presumably be Rockstar's take on Miami; the west and north are covered in sprawling greenery, while a string of small islands dots the south, resembling the real-world Florida Keys. Several icons are marked on the map, with a few standing out in particular: a house, a face wearing a balaclava, a handful of vehicles, and an alligator.

In the first clip, the waterfront residence where Jason is standing matches almost exactly a screenshot published on the official GTA VI website, where the building is labeled as Jason's safehouse. Two sets of dollar figures appear in the top-right corner rendered in the series' signature font, while the aforementioned focus meter shows up in the top-left corner as he holds the basketball.

The second clip contains more action. Jason is initially driving toward an area called The Keys when he suddenly whips the car around in a J-turn and slams into a delivery truck, triggering a brawl with the driver. He ultimately beats the man to death with the driver's own wrench — each swing drains a segment of a stamina meter. The attack immediately earns Jason a two-star wanted level, and a demon icon with a negative sign pops up beside his character portrait on the right side of the screen, suggesting the game may introduce a honor or karma-style system similar to the one in the Red Dead Redemption series.

Before getting back in the car, "loadout" and "storage" prompts briefly flash on screen, hinting that players can swap equipment and stash items — such as that wrench — near their vehicle. Once back in the car, the vehicle's name and a fuel gauge icon appear, suggesting this installment may require players to refuel their cars. The footage uses a minimap interface similar to GTA V's throughout, and the clip ends as Jason approaches an air ambulance helicopter.

Notably, the watermark on this footage includes a URL and the message "fighting for gamers' rights." The leaker claims the clips and map were leaked to protest Rockstar's practice of shipping physical editions with only a download code instead of an actual game disc, and has threatened further action against Rockstar and other publishers over "anti-consumer" practices, including digital pre-orders, so-called "fake single-player DLC," and the failure to keep single-player games playable in the long term.

The authenticity of this footage and map still can't be confirmed with complete certainty, and there may already be discrepancies between when it was captured and the game's current state — Rockstar's servers were reportedly breached earlier this year. Regardless, GTA VI's full trailer is set to debut on Netflix on August 27 before hitting YouTube shortly after, with the game itself slated to launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S on November 19.