Memecoin Ads Plastered on Leaked Footage Undercut Hackers' 'Gamers Rights' Claim

According to GameSpot, consumer rights group Stop Killing Games has issued a statement addressing this week's GTA 6 leaks, urging the public not to support the hackers claiming responsibility for spreading footage ahead of the game's November release. The group, known for campaigning against online games being shut down, distanced itself from the hackers' actions despite sharing some of their underlying frustrations about the industry.

Take-Two Interactive reportedly moved quickly to issue DMCA takedown notices against the leaked videos, which GameSpot notes suggests the footage may be genuine. Notably, those same clips were reportedly covered in advertisements for memecoins alongside requests for donations, raising questions about the leakers' stated motives.

The hackers reportedly published a manifesto -- since taken offline -- claiming the leak was a response to GTA 6's physical console edition shipping as a code-in-a-box rather than a full disc release, and warning that other developers shipping games without proper physical editions could be targeted next. Stop Killing Games pushed back hard on that justification, stating that "using illegal means to make a point is unacceptable to us and does nothing to protect our right to keep using what we paid for."

The group also emphasized that the fallout from the leak lands hardest on the thousands of developers who worked on the game, rather than on Rockstar's "upper management," and called for frustration to be "channel[ed]... into something constructive instead." GameSpot points out this isn't the first time GTA 6 has faced leaks, recalling 2022's early footage leak that Take-Two called "frustrating" and "upsetting" at the time.

The controversy comes just over a week before GTA 6's first proper preview in more than a year, a deep-dive showcase set to debut on Netflix on August 27.