GTA 6 NEWS · LEGAL

Take-Two’s Leak Crackdown: Subpoenas, Shutdowns and the Hunt for CyberLeek

Three days. That’s how long it took Take-Two to go from DMCA takedowns to federal subpoenas in the GTA 6 leak case — one of the fastest legal escalations in games industry history. The target: whoever is behind CyberLeek, the anonymous entity behind eleven leaked gameplay videos in six days. The tools: court orders compelling Microsoft and Discord to hand over everything they know. Here’s exactly what’s happening, what data is being demanded, and why the leaks kept coming even after the hubs went dark.

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What Happened

As Kotaku first reported and Eurogamer detailed, Take-Two filed multiple DMCA subpoenas with the Southern District Court of New York on August 20 — one targeting Microsoft, one targeting Discord. The filings describe the leaked material as “audiovisual content, artwork, images, dialogue, or other creative elements,” and a sworn declaration from Take-Two’s counsel confirms the purpose: obtaining “the identity of an alleged infringer or infringers,” with the information to be used “only for the purpose of protecting Take-Two’s rights.”

Both companies have until September 4 to produce the records — though Discord stated publicly on August 24 that it had not yet been served.

What Take-Two Wants From Microsoft and Discord

From Microsoft, Take-Two is seeking information “sufficient to identify the user(s) person” — that means account IDs, registration emails, IP addresses, phone numbers, and linked Xbox and Google accounts tied to OneDrive data connected to the leaks. If CyberLeek ever touched a Microsoft service while handling the footage, this is designed to find the fingerprint.

The Discord subpoena goes wider: it demands “all user accounts that are/were members communicating with” a list of named servers — CyberLeek, CinematicRockstar, Surfer24K, Odyssey, and DarkViperAU. That last name is notable: DarkViperAU is a well-known GTA speedrunner and YouTuber, and his inclusion suggests Take-Two is mapping the entire ecosystem around the leaks, not just the source. If you discussed the leaks in those servers, Take-Two is asking Discord for your account too.

Vice City postcard artwork from official GTA 6 marketing — The leaks showed Vice City in never-meant-to-be-seen detail; the courts will decide who pays for it.

The Hubs Go Dark — But the Leaks Don’t Stop

On August 24, Eurogamer reported the first apparent scalp of the legal offensive: the CyberLeek website went offline, and the group’s Telegram channel now displays only “This channel is unavailable due to copyright infringement.” Case closed? Not even close. A seventh clip surfaced the same day, with gameplay details being discussed on Reddit — meaning whoever is behind this still has access to unreleased footage even with a main hub down. Whether the takedown came from the subpoenas or separate copyright enforcement isn’t yet clear, and Rockstar hasn’t commented.

There’s also genuine confusion about which channels ever belonged to CyberLeek in the first place. The group itself stated that impersonators are operating across X, Discord and Telegram, and that it only ever ran the (now dead) website and one Telegram channel. Some Redditors insist even that Telegram was fake from the start. In a story this fast-moving, the impersonation problem is itself a story.

Who Is CyberLeek — and Why “Gamers’ Rights” Doesn’t Cover It

As of August 24, GameSpot reports the leaker has not been identified, and Rockstar Intel’s sources claim the studio is “angry” and struggling to find them. The group’s stated cause is anti-digital-preorder activism — GTA 6’s premium editions ship a download code, not a disc, and CyberLeek’s “commandments” demand an end to digital preorders and fake single-player DLC.

The execution undermines the message. Every clip advertises the $CYBERLEEK meme coin; token purchases vote on which footage releases next; the strip club video was explicitly gated on the coin hitting a $3 million market cap; and the group began selling ad space on future leaks at 400 XMR — about $165,450 — just to open a conversation. Polygon found evidence suggesting “dodgy-seeming personal gain,” and consumer campaign Stop Killing Games, which exists to fight for game preservation, put distance between itself and the leaks in no uncertain terms: “Using illegal means to make a point is unacceptable to us. Do not send these people your money.”

There’s precedent for how this ends. The 2022 GTA 6 hack — 90 clips of early footage — ended with 18-year-old Arion Kurtaj of Lapsus$ ordered to live in a secure hospital indefinitely; this July he was moved to a prison to await a new trial. Federal subpoenas with September 4 deadlines suggest Take-Two intends to run this one down with the same determination.

Vice City scene from official GTA 6 artwork — November 19 is locked. The only open question is who’s in custody by then.

Three Ways This Ends

Scenario one: the paperwork lands. September 4 arrives, Microsoft and Discord produce account IDs, registration emails, IPs and phone numbers, and the CyberLeek persona collapses into a person. That’s the outcome Take-Two’s filings are engineered for — and per Rockstar Intel’s reporting, Microsoft has already complied and is working with enforcement. The 2022 case shows how decisively this chapter can close once a name exists.

Scenario two: the trail dead-ends. The leaker’s opsec so far — Monero fees, a fog of impersonator accounts, even characters in the leaked clips joking about VPNs — suggests someone who thought about this moment in advance. If the subpoenaed records point at burner accounts and coffee-shop IPs, the leaks simply keep coming, and this becomes a permanent whack-a-mole column in the news cycle.

Scenario three: it fizzles. The hubs are already down, the coin-gated release model depends on a memecoin holding value, and attention is fickle. If the September 4 deadline passes quietly and no cliffhanger footage lands, the whole saga may simply lose oxygen — remembered as the strange summer when GTA 6 leaked itself a marketing boost nobody authorised.

What This Means for GTA 6

Nothing about the launch has changed. Take-Two boss Strauss Zelnick says he isn’t concerned the legal battle — or the leaks — will dent GTA 6 sales. The game became a top pre-order on the PlayStation Store worldwide within days of going live, and the official “extended look” still premieres on Netflix on August 27. GTA 6 launches November 19, 2026 on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. That’s confirmed, and no subpoena or leak changes it.

September 4 is the next date to watch. That’s when Microsoft and Discord’s production deadline lands. If the data hands Take-Two a name, expect the story to shift from leak coverage to court coverage fast.

While the lawyers work, the rest of us can stick to the legit stuff: catch up on every leak so far in our full timeline, revisit the official GTA 6 timeline, or lock in your copy — the PS5 edition and Xbox edition are both up for pre-order.