Former Rockstar Employee Called GTA VI Leaks a "Fizzle" Amid the "Hot Coffee" Scandal

Former technical director of Rockstar Obbe Vermeij believes the recent leak of materials from Grand Theft Auto VI hasn’t done serious damage. He judges the episode as far smaller in impact than the old "Hot Coffee" flap that followed the release of GTA: San Andreas.

Vermeij spent time at Rockstar working on titles such as GTA III, Vice City, San Andreas, and GTA IV. From his view, leaks mostly irritate mgmt and devs (they’re annoyed, not ruined). He also says most people who will buy GTA VI aren’t trawling the web for leaked clips.

Calm down everybody. The leaks are a nothing burger. As a marketing strategy R* is trying to keep the game under wraps longer than other publishers. All that has happened is that some footage has escaped. Slightly ahead of the Netflix thing next week. 90% of future players… — Obbe Vermeij (@ObbeVermeij) August 22, 2026

Calm down, friends. These leaks are a nothingburger. As part of the marketing strategy, Rockstar tries to keep the game secret longer than other publishers. All that happened is that a few videos leaked out. And just a little ahead of the Netflix event planned for next week. 90% of future players don’t spend time on the Internet looking for short videos. They don’t have time for that, and they don’t want spoilers. I think the team is a bit annoyed by what happened, but nothing more. I was at Rockstar during the Hot Coffee scandal. For management (Rockstar New York), it was a real nightmare, but for us (Rockstar North) the situation barely affected us. The current leaks are much less significant than the Hot Coffee story. It seems that GTA VI will be a fantastic game and will continue to sell for the next 15 years or so. These leaks are just a minor nuisance. Obbe Vermeij

Quick reminder: Hot Coffee was a hidden sexual mini‑game tucked inside GTA: San Andreas that surfaced after the 2004 launch, triggering legal trouble for Rockstar and drawing the attention of the US FTC.

Do we know for sure that Vermeij is right and the leak won’t hurt Rockstar? No one can claim 100% certainty. Up to now the group known as Cyberleek has released only short clips. They did, however, hint in one clip that a full build might be accessible — and if that’s true, story spoilers could start leaking months before release.

If that is the case it probably only runs on a devkit. Devkits have more memory. There probably isn't a build in existence that would run on a retail ps5 at the moment. — Obbe Vermeij (@ObbeVermeij) August 22, 2026

Following that logic, an early GTA VI build might not boot on a retail PS5 (ps5 retail). Vermeij didn’t rule out a PC build, but noted historically Rockstar’s PC versions lag behind console builds in readiness — another layer to consider for anyone tracking leaks (dev perspective).

The long‑awaited Grand Theft Auto VI will be released for Xbox Series and PlayStation 5 on November 19; fans can decide then whether the build lived up to the hype or fell short.