GTA 6 developers forced to change where they work over 'security' worries

The team behind Grand Theft Auto VI, the most anticipated video game since its predecessor, has been forced in to changing how it makes the game due to 'security' worries.

GTA 6 was finally confirmed by Rockstar at the end of 2023, with a teaser trailer for the upcoming game released across the world. It'll be the successor to GTA 5, released back in 2013.

By the time GTA 6 comes out, it'll have been 12 years since the last game in the franchise with a 2025 release date currently on the cards. Nothing has been said at this stage as to when it will drop within the year itself.

It'll bring gamers back to the land of Vice City, a fictionalised version of Miami and the setting of 2002's Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. The game says that Vice City is in the fictional US state of Leonida, with the final product coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S next year.

Gamers are expecting it to be the biggest game to date, with a prison system even rumoured among fans.

As we enter March 2024, the game is reported to now be in the final stages of development before a long period of tinkering and marketing is put together ahead of release.

Rockstar Games

And with GTA 6 now very much being in the final stages of production, bosses at Rockstar - a division of Take-Two Interactive Software Inc - have reportedly told staff that they really should return to working full-time in the office to protect the product that's been, for the most part, kept secret from the world during most of its developmental state.

In emails to staff, seen by Bloomberg, Rockstar Head of Publishing, Jenn Kolbe, said the move was necessary for 'security and productivity reasons'.

There's no doubt that the move is as a result of the one big leak that happened during production, with a hacker releasing authentic footage from GTA 6 during development back in September 2022.

Rockstar took the hacker to trial in UK courts, where it told the judge that it cost the company $5 million to fix the issue and recover what was theirs.

Rockstar

Alongside the footage, 90 screenshots of the game in development were published.

In the new email to staff, Kolbe writes: "Making these changes now puts us in the best position to deliver the next Grand Theft Auto at the level of quality and polish we know it requires, along with a publishing roadmap that matches the scale and ambition of the game.

The decision hasn't gone down too well, with Bloomberg's Jason Schreier posting on X that 'employees are not thrilled' at the announcement.