GTA 6 fans are celebrating after the Cyberleek memecoin crashed hard yesterday, scuppering the leaker’s crypto scheme.
Cyberleek had tied various types of GTA 6 gameplay leaks to the Cyberleek market cap, ranging from $5 million to $25 million. The leaker also threatened to release a build of the game — supposedly over 200 GB in size — if the memecoin hit a $30 million market cap.
Already this week a number of gameplay clips were reportedly leaked after market cap goals were hit, including gameplay that allegedly shows Lucia fully naked, and, more recently, the alleged leak of a “Lucia closeup 4k” video.
Cyberleek has threatened to release a new unauthorized GTA 6 gameplay video every day, assuming the memecoin market cap targets were met, and launched yet another gameplay poll designed to encourage spending on the memecoin.
However, the Cyberleek memecoin has crashed, with a current market cap of $1.7 million, down from a high of $7.8 million on October 11. It is now highly unlikely to hit that $30 million target, and may struggle to hit the other targets Cyberleek had set for further leaks.
Of course, Cyberleek may ignore the targets and just release gameplay anyway. But the bigger question is whether Cyberleek really does have a build of GTA 6, and, if so, would actually release it. Assuming Cyberleek has a working build, releasing it into the wild would be catastrophic for Rockstar and parent company Take-Two, as it would no-doubt spark a frenzy of AI-powered projects that would threaten the potential success of GTA 6 on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S when it comes out next month.
For now, GTA 6 fans are celebrating the Cyberleek crash. “Whoever is dropping money on this deserves to lose their money lol. You are begging to get scammed,” one person said. “There is a god,” another added. “Anyone who gave this moron cash deserved this. What the hell did people expect?” another commented.
Fans had spent the last week calling on people not to spend money on Cyberleek, pointing out the leaker cashed out back in August and is likely to do so again ahead of GTA 6’s official release date, if they haven’t already. Analysis of cryptocurrency transactions in late August pointed to the GTA 6 leaker cashing out having earnt around $270,000.
Yesterday, IGN reported on fan skepticism around the alleged leaked gameplay that reportedly showed both Jason and Lucia fully naked. A previous leaked gameplay video allegedly showed a tank spawning into the world, which suggests access to a dev menu of some kind. The leaked videos allegedly showing both Jason and Lucia fully naked also show NPCs failing to react to that in any way, which suggests this effect was achieved with either a dev menu or cheats and won’t be possible in the official release.
One theory is that Cyberleak was able to access this state for both Lucia and Jason because in at least one mission players will see both characters naked, perhaps in a nudist resort. As it stands, this is all speculation, and it is unknown if GTA 6 will feature either character naked at any point — officially at least.
Cyberleek has threatened Rockstar and parent company Take-Two with the release of a full playthrough of the game’s story if they fail to release GTA 6 on-disc and issue a public apology — and, as we’ve explained, the market cap of the memecoin hits $30 million. Of course, few believe these GTA 6 leaks are about campaigning for physical media — rather they’re about making money from a crypto scam.
“Here’s the deal, nice and clean,” Cyberleek’s threat began. “CYBERLEEK hits 30 million marketcap, the build goes out — full story mode, played to the end, credits and all. Don’t believe it has full story mode? Ask for what you want to see, and it gets provided. Take-Two gets one way out: physical disks and a public apology. They can take it at any moment. Or they can gamble that CL is bluffing. Everyone knows which one they’ll pick.”
Cyberleek appeared to go dark after a spate of high-profile GTA 6 leaks in August that sparked an investigation from Take-Two. The company issued subpoenas to the likes of Discord as part of the hunt for the person or group of people responsible. But Cyberleek reemerged last week with the release of a 24-minute GTA 6 gameplay video that reportedly showed cutscenes, story beats, playable characters Jason and Lucia naked (in the case of Jason, full-frontal nudity), and a first-person camera.
It remains unclear how the gameplay footage, or any potential build of the game it’s taken from, escaped the confines of Rockstar’s infamous tight security. Recent developments suggest Cyberleek remains at large and defiant in the face of potential legal action.
In August, Rockstar addressed the GTA 6 leaks, describing the situation as “heartbreaking” for its development team and “unfortunate” for fans. At the time, the developer acknowledged that its intended experience for players “may now be impacted by some spoilers,” but reiterated GTA 6’s previously-confirmed launch date of November 19.
Whether the culprit or culprits are ever caught may rest on how successful Take-Two’s legal team and the relevant authorities are at forcing social networks or crypto exchanges to divulge any personal details they hold on those responsible.
Wesley is IGN’s Managing Editor. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
