The 17-year-old hacker allegedly responsible for a major leak of Grand Theft Auto 6 development footage and possibly other resources has pled not guilty to the charge of computer misuse, although they did apparently plead guilty to breaching bail conditions. The teen accused of leaking Grand Theft Auto 6 material is currently being held at a youth detention center.
Recently the first-ever leaked footage of Grand Theft Auto 6 began circulating thanks to a disastrous security breach of developer Rockstar Games. It's still uncertain exactly what was obtained in the breach, with reports suggesting that the hacker had obtained the source code for Grand Theft Auto 5 and Grand Theft Auto 6. In the aftermath of the hack, many people took to social media pretending to be responsible for the incident, while one individual claiming to be the hacker in question managed to scam a person out of $100,000 in a fraudulent deal for Grand Theft Auto 5's source code.
A 17-year-old suspect had recently been arrested in Oxfordshire, UK as the result of a collaborative investigation involving the FBI and the UK's National Cyber Crime Unit, and according to City of London detective inspector Michael O'Sullivan, the alleged hacker has pleaded not guilty to the charge of computer misuse. The suspect did, however, plead guilty to breaching bail conditions set by an earlier arrest when the then-16-year-old hacker was part of a group of individuals arrested under suspicion of hacking major companies such as Microsoft. As a minor, the Grand Theft Auto 6 hacker's identity will likely stay concealed.
Rockstar Games has issued a statement confirming that it had suffered a "network intrusion" causing the information to be taken from its servers, although the Grand Theft Auto developer insists that the incident would have "no long-term effect on development." One could even argue that the leak has provided Grand Theft Auto 6 with a substantial amount of press coverage and has had the unintentional side effect of promoting the highly-anticipated title in the minds of the gaming industry. The leak likely has thrown a wrench in Rockstar's marketing schedule for the game, however, as certain elements of the game have already been let out of the box.
Previously rumored details such as Grand Theft Auto 6's male and female protagonists and its setting in Vice City have been corroborated by the leaked footage, although there will certainly be plenty of game left to discover once Grand Theft Auto 6 finally releases in the coming years.
Grand Theft Auto 6 is in development.
Source: Eurogamer