In September 2022, an 18-year-old hacker accessed Rockstar Games’ systems, stole unreleased Grand Theft Auto VI footage and threatened to release source code unless the company contacted him on Telegram. The threat is established; it does not mean a complete release of the game’s source code occurred. The later court process found he had committed the alleged acts, but did not produce a conventional guilty-or-not-guilty verdict.
What happened in the Rockstar Games hack?
Rockstar described the incident as a network intrusion in which an unauthorized third party illegally accessed and downloaded confidential information from its systems. The footage that emerged online showed an unreleased version of GTA VI. The Guardian reported that Kurtaj stole 90 clips of the game.
According to The Guardian’s account of the court proceedings, the intruder sent Rockstar employees a message through the company’s internal Slack system: “If Rockstar does not contact me on Telegram within 24 hours I will start releasing the source code.” That establishes a threat to publish source code, not that a full source-code release followed.
How the attack was reportedly carried out
The Guardian reported that Kurtaj committed the attack while on bail for other hacking matters and staying under police protection at a Travelodge. His laptop had been confiscated. The newspaper’s account of what the court heard was that he used an Amazon Firestick, the hotel television and a mobile phone. These are details reported from the proceedings, not a technical forensic account of the intrusion.
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What happened to the 18-year-old who hacked Rockstar?
The Associated Press reported that a jury found Kurtaj had committed 12 offenses, including hacking, blackmail and fraud. That finding needs an important qualification: psychiatrists had assessed him as unfit to stand trial, so jurors were asked to decide whether he had committed the alleged acts rather than return a standard guilty-or-not-guilty verdict. A 17-year-old co-defendant was separately convicted of offenses.
Sentence and later reported status
In December 2023, Kurtaj received an indefinite hospital order. The Guardian reported that he would remain in a secure hospital unless doctors considered him no longer a danger.
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In a July 16, 2026 report, PC Gamer, citing BBC correspondent Joe Tidy, said Kurtaj was reportedly out of the secure hospital and in prison awaiting a retrial scheduled for November 2026. Tidy said police had not confirmed the report to him, and reporting restrictions had been lifted. As of October 4, 2026, that hearing was still in the future; its outcome is not established.
What did Rockstar say, and what was the reported cost?
In a statement on September 19, 2022, Rockstar said: “At this time, we do not anticipate any disruption to our live game services nor any long-term effect on the development of our ongoing projects.” The company also said work on the next Grand Theft Auto game would continue as planned. Those were Rockstar’s expectations immediately after the leak, not a later independent assessment of its impact.
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The Guardian reported that Rockstar told the court the hack cost $5 million to recover from, in addition to thousands of staff hours. That is a company-reported figure from the court hearing, not an independently audited estimate.
Did the GTA 6 hacker threaten to leak the source code?
Yes. The Guardian reported that he threatened Rockstar employees through internal Slack, saying he would start releasing source code if Rockstar did not contact him on Telegram within 24 hours. The available reporting establishes the threat; it does not establish that all of GTA VI’s source code was published.
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- STUNNING VISUALS — Enhanced levels of fidelity and performance with new graphics modes featuring up to 4K resolution, up to 60 frames per second, HDR options, ray tracing, improved texture quality, and more
- FASTER LOADING — Quicker access to the action as the world of Los Santos and Blaine County load in faster than ever before.
- ADAPTIVE TRIGGERS AND HAPTIC FEEDBACK — Feel every moment through the DualSense controller, from directional damage to weather effects, rough road surfaces to explosions, and more.
- TEMPEST 3D AUDIO — Hear the sounds of the world with pinpoint precision: the throttle of a stolen supercar, the rattle of neighbouring gunfire, the roar of a helicopter overhead, and more.
- Please note that although this game is Region Free or Region Unlocked and will work on all systems, this is the international version and may differ from the local version in age rating, labeling or instructions.
Why the case drew attention beyond gaming
The Rockstar intrusion was part of a broader Lapsus$ cybercrime case involving other companies. Its importance for players was the exposure of confidential development material and the possibility of further leaks. For the company, Rockstar’s court-reported recovery cost and staff time show the practical burden it said it faced. These figures describe this case only; they should not be treated as typical breach costs or as a measure of youth cybercrime generally.
DCS Amanda Horsburgh of City of London Police said: “This case serves as an example of the dangers that young people can be drawn towards whilst online and the serious consequences it can have for someone’s broader future.”
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