Rockstar North's head of development Aaron Garbut calls the 2022 leak "weirdly invasive", Kotaku reports from the Bloomberg feature.
Sources kotaku.com · bloomberg.com
"It feels like somebody's wading through your dirty washing." That is how Aaron Garbut, Rockstar North's head of development and co-studio head, describes the 2022 leak, according to Kotaku. The quote comes from the Bloomberg investigation published on October 14, and it sheds light on the studio's wariness as November 19 approaches.
According to Kotaku, Garbut, who has worked on the series since the very first GTA, said he watched unfinished clips spread everywhere. "It's like they're inside your head. You see your early work out there. Nobody's ever supposed to see that," he said. He called it "weirdly invasive" and "quite hard to deal with on an emotional level". We covered the rest of the feature in our Bloomberg piece.
Kotaku lays out the aftermath. Rockstar rolled back its work-from-home rules, then required all employees back in the office five days a week in 2024, citing security. Per the same article, developers can no longer reach company servers and tools from home, so they use vacation or sick days when something comes up at home. These measures are reported by Kotaku; Rockstar has not detailed them itself in that text.
Head of publishing Jennifer Kolbe does not see a return to hybrid work soon. The studio plans to revisit its policies after GTA 6 ships, but she points to the security team: "The idea that we would have the game in that many environments is something that I think the security team would not love." She adds: "I think if we did not have a game that people wanted to steal as much, maybe it would be an easier conversation."
Read also GTA 6: Rockstar's next game won't take eight years, leadership says
The contrast is stark. Despite those restrictions, Cyberleek began sharing GTA 6 footage in August. According to Kotaku, drawing on the Bloomberg report, this caused frustration at the studio: developers feel they sacrificed a lot and the leaks happened anyway. On Wednesday Cyberleek said it was done leaking, as we reported in our piece on the end of the leaks. Its threat of a "dead man's switch" if someone goes after it remains on the table.
The full launch calendar is on the release page.
Nothing changes for November 19. But these remarks explain why Rockstar stays so closed, and why the five-day office rule is unlikely to move before release. They also remind us that behind every gameplay clip shared online are teams who spent years on something they meant to show themselves.
Sources kotaku.com · bloomberg.com
By Solange Rocheval · GTAVIFRANCE newsroom
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