Another day, another cyber attack. Rockstar Games – a global video game publisher – have confirmed an alarming network intrusion this week.
The attack saw a hacker access and leak footage of the next installment of popular gaming franchise, Grand Theft Auto, making it one of the biggest data leaks in gaming history.
The data breach which has led to a cache of over 90 videos and spread across Reddit, YouTube, Twitter and other social networking forums, has given gaming fans globally an exclusive look into the games highly anticipated next installment, having devastating effects on Rockstar’s global reputation.
The footage of the ‘Grand Theft Auto VI’ game which has been released by the hacker (Teapotuberhacker) features gameplay footage of a robbery, at least two playable characters, one of which has been identified as female, along with a range of ‘Vice City’ locations that gamers will be able to unlock as they progress through the game.
The network intrusion and data breach will come as a shock to gaming developers globally and fans alike, with Rockstar reportedly working on the development of the game since 2014, with its rumored release date being set for 2022/23.
The cyber breach has meant that gaming fans have had a unique insight into the game, pre-launch with many now criticising the footage which has been released on various social media platforms highlighting various areas for the game’s improvement.
This also will signify a financial loss for the publisher as the focus now turns to an investigation into why the leak has occurred and if the claims that more footage ‘will be released soon’ by the hacker are to be believed.
Since Grand Theft Auto V was released in 2013, the cult game has broken every sales record going however, this latest breach has marketeers questioning the impact this will have on the marketing and promotion of the game and ultimately its sale success when it does eventually hit the market.
In the last few months, we have seen a number of large organisations affected by data breaches, including social media giant TikTok, who had over 1 billion user data reportedly stolen. Uber, whose employees found that they had been compromised after a hacker broke into a staff members slack account, breaching their network and forcing a range of engineering and comms systems to be taken offline and now Rockstar, with the full effects of the breach still being determined.
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