Honestly, it’s been years since that massive September 2022 dump, and we’re still feeling the ripples. You remember where you were? I do. Waking up to 90 videos of a half-baked Vice City was like seeing the wizard behind the curtain without an invitation. It was messy. It was unfinished. And for Rockstar Games, it was a total nightmare that forced their hand in ways we're still seeing play out as we head toward the November 19, 2026, release date.
People like to act like they've seen everything, but the truth about those GTA 6 leaked images is a lot weirder than a few clips of Lucia in a strip club. We're talking about a legal saga that ended with a teenager in a hospital prison and a recent wave of firings that basically confirmed some of the wildest rumors we all thought were fake.
The day the internet broke: September 18, 2022
The "Teapotuberhacker" situation was probably the biggest security breach in gaming history. Period. Arion Kurtaj, an 18-year-old from Oxford, managed to get into Rockstar’s internal Slack using—get this—an Amazon Firestick, a hotel TV, and a mobile phone. He was already under police protection at a Travelodge for other hacks when he did it.
The stuff he leaked wasn't just "images." It was 50 minutes of raw, developer-mode footage. We saw Lucia and Jason robbing a place called Hank’s Waffles. We saw debug text everywhere. We saw the "Event Browser" that listed hundreds of world encounters.
Most people saw the janky animations and started complaining. "The graphics look like GTA V," they said. It was a classic case of people not understanding how game dev works. You don't put the polish on until the engine is humming. But for those of us looking closer, the leaks confirmed things Rockstar hadn't breathed a word about:
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- The return to Vice City (Leonida).
- The dual-protagonist system with Jason and Lucia.
- A much more "grounded" feel, closer to Red Dead Redemption 2 than the arcade chaos of GTA V.
Why those "fake" 2023 leaks are suddenly looking very real
Fast forward to late 2025 and early 2026. Something weird happened. Rockstar fired dozens of employees—some reports say 31 at Rockstar North alone—for "gross misconduct." Specifically, they were accused of leaking confidential info on private Discord servers.
Suddenly, a Reddit post from late 2023 that everyone downvoted to oblivion is being treated like the Bible. Why? Because the dates of those firings line up perfectly with when that "leaker" was active. If those GTA 6 leaked images and text descriptions are right, the game's opening is way darker than we thought.
Supposedly, the game starts with a flashback. Lucia has a baby. She abandons the kid at a deli before a bank robbery goes south. She gets caught, goes to prison, and the "real" game starts years later when Jason picks her up on her release day. It sounds heavy. It sounds like a Rockstar story.
Mechanics that the leaks basically confirmed
It’s not just about the story, though. The footage showed us things that are now essentially "soft-confirmed" by industry insiders like Jason Schreier and recent Rockstar statements:
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- The 6-Star Wanted Level: It’s back. And it’s not just more cops. We’re talking full-scale tactical responses, K-9 units, and roadblocks that actually adapt to your driving.
- Limited Weapon Inventory: Remember in Red Dead 2 how you had to pick guns from your horse? Leaks suggest Jason and Lucia will have to use their car trunk as a mobile armory. You can't just carry 40 rifles in your back pocket anymore.
- Enterable Buildings: The numbers being tossed around are insane. Over 700 shops and interiors are reportedly "seamless," meaning no loading screens when you kick in a door.
The Arion Kurtaj fallout and the 2026 delay
You can’t talk about the leaks without talking about the cost. Rockstar told a UK court that the hack cost them $5 million and thousands of hours of staff time. But the real cost was the culture.
After the leaks, Rockstar got aggressive. They ended remote work. They forced everyone back to the office in April 2024 for "security reasons." Morale reportedly hit "rock bottom." Some people think this is exactly why the game got pushed back from its 2025 window to late 2026. When you lose your best devs because they’re burnt out and annoyed by new security protocols, the game suffers.
Kurtaj himself? He’s in a secure hospital indefinitely. The judge ruled he was a "high risk" because he still wanted to keep hacking. It's a bizarre, sad ending to the guy who gave us our first look at the most anticipated game ever.
Comparing the leaks to the official trailers
If you look at the GTA 6 leaked images from 2022 and put them next to the second trailer we got in late 2025, the jump in quality is "sorcery" level. Fans on Reddit have been pointing out specific spots, like the Starlet Motel in Port Gellhorn. In the leaks, it was a gray box with some textures. In the official shots, the lighting and "crowd density" make it look like a real photo of Florida.
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There's even a theory that Rockstar is trolling us. In one of the newer trailers, Jason is seen on a roof "fixing leaks." It’s almost too on the nose.
What to do with this info now
Look, if you're still hunting for the original 2022 videos, be careful. Most sites hosting them are a graveyard of malware or get nuked by Take-Two’s lawyers within minutes.
The best move is to watch the "comparison" breakdowns on YouTube. There are creators who have painstakingly mapped the leaked coordinates to the official trailer shots. It gives you a much better idea of the map size—which is rumored to be nearly double the size of Los Santos—without having to squint at blurry, watermarked footage.
Actionable Insight for Fans:
- Stop expecting a 2025 release. The internal shift to November 2026 is firm.
- Follow the "GameRoll" threads. While not 100% verified, the recent Rockstar firings suggest that source had actual access to the script.
- Ignore "Leaked Gameplay" on social media. 99% of what you see on TikTok right now is either GTA V with heavy mods or assets from other games like The Crew Motorfest.
The wait is exhausting, yeah. But if the leaks showed us anything, it’s that Rockstar is trying to build a simulation, not just a game. We’ve seen the bones; now we just have to wait for the skin to grow.