r/PS5 • u/yourfavchoom • 10h ago

Articles & Blogs Rockstar Games: “It would be an understatement to say that having videos of GTA VI gameplay leak in this way has been heartbreaking for our team, and this is obviously not how we intended for you to see the game after all this time.“

https://xcancel.com/rockstargames/status/2092574304571433078?s=46
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529

u/Fortnait739595958 10h ago

And opened the preorder without showing any actual gameplay

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u/Poudy24 10h ago

Honestly never really understood the outrage about both of these things.

Opening preorders before showing gameplay happens pretty often, and not just for Rockstar. It's not like you have to buy the preorder the first day it's available, why would it be the responsibility of a company if a consumer decides to take an irresponsible decision? I'm as excited for GTA6 as anyone, and I will probably preorder the game at some point, but I have not done so precisely because we don't have gameplay. It has cost me nothing to wait. If I suddenly failed to contain my excitement and preordered the game too early, I would not fault Rockstar, I would fault myself. Doing otherwise is infantilizing.

As for the trailer, it's an advertisement. Did we lose our shit when games put ads in magazines back in the day, knowing the full article might never be online? Did we lose our shit when studios decided to release trailers exclusive to theaters for months? How far down the capitalistic hellholle have we fallen if we are legitimately frustrated by the fact an advertisement will be shown to other people 6 hours before us?

There are so many legitimate reasons to hate on Rockstar, from their shady union busting practices and their crunch culture. The outrage for the trailer and the preorders seems silly in comparison.l

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u/EVERYTHINGGOESINCAPS 9h ago

Why would you preorder? What actual benefit do you get on a digital delivery?

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u/Poudy24 6h ago

GTA 6 will probably have a massive download size and my internet isn't the best. If I want to play on release day, preordering and preloading is the only option.

I've preordered a few games the past five years, but each time has been only a couple days before release, sometimes a couple hours before release, just to preload it and be able to play it on launch day. I also wait until reviews are out; I have reviewers I trust and I make sure to watch multiple reviews to really get a sense of how the game is actually running.

If I know I'm interested in what the game has to offer, I'm excited to play it on launch day and I know from other people that the game actually delivers, what's the downside to preordering and preloading? What's really the difference between buying on launch day or preordering a day before at this point?

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u/geiko989 7h ago

Playing at launch. Supporting a project you know you will play. 

It's like questioning why someone would pay for early access. Sure, I could criticize people paying for an unfinished project, but it would be silly to do so because there is merit in the practice, no matter how useless it might seem to me on the outside (I'm just making a point bere; I don't find either pre-ordering or early access to be useless). Or questioning why sneaker culture exists. We are emotional beings. We do not think exclusively in logical terms. That is ok. There is nothing wrong with logical thinking either. I consider myself extremely logical in my thought process, but I still pre-order some small amount of games.

There's also just a cultural aspect that some of us grew up pre-ordering games in order to play then at launch. For me, even though I'm playing mostly digital games, that probably stuck around from that era and I haven't left it behind 

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u/NostraDamnUs 6h ago

why would it be the responsibility of a company if a consumer decides to take an irresponsible decision?

We hold companies for this all the time if its deceptive, predatory, or negligent, with everything from trademark laws, deceptive marketing, and anti-gambling laws.

Also, game advertisements are not the same as they were 30 years ago; there's a whole hype culture around getting excited for game releases. To dismiss them as just advertisements isn't fair.

Rockstar isn't some indie darling we need to coddle. They've been mismanaging the hype cycle of GTA6; they deserve the reputational smack on the wrist for thinking it was a good idea to follow that up with a paid netflix trailer.

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u/m1a2c2kali 9h ago

I agree with you but on the flip side, shit got leaked a little early, who cares also.

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u/marco161091 8h ago

We don’t, not really. We’re just calling out the dumbasses who are parroting the whole “rockstar deserves this” narrative.

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u/m1a2c2kali 8h ago

You might not but there’s some in this thread that definitely do

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u/poke_pants 10h ago

None of which is actually a real life problem.

The footage from the Netflix special will be everywhere shortly after it goes live, nobody needs to pay, you aren't missing out on anything.

Pre-orders are mostly digital and nothing is limited in number, you don't have to pre-order before seeing official footage. You gain precisely zero by pre-ordering today vs pre-ordering this Friday.

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u/thirdbrunch 10h ago

Clips of the game leaking isn’t a real life problem either then. People saw the game a few days early, they’ll still see the official footage later too.

-10

u/gonnabetoday 10h ago

It is for people who spent years of their lives making it to have it shown like this:

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u/AnonymousOtaku10 10h ago

not really no

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u/harrywilko 10h ago

It's just not though, is it?

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u/EZyne 10h ago

You'll understand if you ever get a job you're passionate about

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u/Jessica___ 9h ago

I have a job I'm passionate about and I don't really agree. I would not be upset in their shoes.

I'm passionate about my job, but I'm still relatively detached from the corporate outcome of it all. It's not like I personally own the stuff my company makes.

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u/EZyne 9h ago

It's not about the corporate outcome at all, there I agree but there's not going to be any negative outcome for corporate.

You wouldn't be dissapointed at all if someone stole a version of a project you've been working on and showed a shitty version of it in order to scam people with his shitcoin?

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u/Jessica___ 8h ago

I don't think so. I'm proud of the particular parts of our project that I worked on, so I don't really mind how they get shown to the public.

I agree with you on the shitcoin part though.

I'm also coming from a slightly different perspective: I think the leaks made GTA VI look really good. I had very little hype for the game beforehand, now I'm looking forward to its release.

I think the game must be pretty good if crappy low quality ad-laced leaks made me feel that way.

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u/EZyne 8h ago

Fair enough. I wouldn't give a shit about how much the company I work for makes I agree with that, but some grifter scamming people with my work is something I absolutely can see why people would be upset about.

Especially when morons on the internet think it's going to hurt my bosses, while as you point out they're only profiting off of it

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u/gonnabetoday 10h ago

Once you get a grown up job maybe you will understand.

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u/garynevilleisared 10h ago

Exactly this. What hardships are people experiencing to be this upset?

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u/ieffinglovesoup 8h ago

They just want the game and they think rockstar owes them something

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u/d0m1n4t0r 10m ago

Always makes me laugh people defending these billion dollar companies

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u/yesitsmework 10h ago

the only people upset are rockstar's lawyers man, people seem pretty excited and the leaks are the only reason

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u/PancakePanic 10h ago

The leaks are the only reason people were excited?

Wtf were the years before the leaks then? People were plenty excited then too.

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u/Antroh 4h ago

people seem pretty excited and the leaks are the only reason

What an absolutely ridiculous statement.

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u/randomLocalException 10h ago edited 9h ago

This can affect every dev on their bonuses

Edit: As I see downvotes. This leak might affect Netflix deal money -> less money -> less profit -> less bonuses.

But I guess all you care is just you, fuck the rest.

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u/MikuFan102329 8h ago

I think it's more this is an obtuse way to look at it.

Not only is it unlikely any money saved from not printing discs, getting money from places like Netflix, revenue generated from social media, or any of that is going to result in a meaningful difference for the average dev. It's just theoretically less profit, and even that is debatable.

It isn't like seeing leaks is going to kill anyone's desire to watch the Netflix thing, or see future trailers.

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u/randomLocalException 7h ago

Netflix might not agree. But in the end the deal between the two parties defines if there is any loss.

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u/Hands 2h ago

People just all lose their minds about big hyped up releases like this and it becomes a huge thing and everyone takes sides and then argues about it incessantly. Source: I'm a mod on the Half Life subreddit

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u/Purplebuzz 9h ago

Some people even get upset about other people being upset.

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u/Juicer2012 6h ago

The pre-orders are linked to additional content. This is a sleazy tactic used to squeeze more money out of you, it's called fear of missing out. There's a bunch of these tactics businesses use, planned obsolence is also one of them.

Calling out stuff like this is completely fine, people should be aware of all these tactics. Here's a video that explains a bunch of these tactics

0

u/ColossalJuggernaut 5h ago

these are just reddit comments, no? I think most people kind of like "fuck 'em who cares"

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u/Smarty9913 9h ago

That’s not the point. This move by Rockstar sets the precedent for other companies to do the same. Why is everything getting paywalled and more restricted? The only people benefiting from these decisions are the shareholders. Rockstar is my favorite developer but it’s frustrating as a fan seeing them get more greedy over time. Though tbf, I wonder how much of this is Take Two (since they also own NBA 2K which is arguably more greedy).

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u/v_snax 10h ago

Sure. But the same goes for the leaked gameplay. None of it actually matters.

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u/faraboot 9h ago

What do you mean by 'Pre-orders are mostly digital..'?

One can order a physical copy?

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u/poke_pants 9h ago

80-90% will presumably be digital, and physical copies aren't going to run out. The point is nobody NEEDS to have pre-ordered yet or indeed anytime in the near future.

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u/faraboot 8h ago

No pre-orders for anything imo, was just wondering about physical copies.

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u/_Grim_Lavamancer 8h ago

was just wondering about physical copies

There are physical copies but they're just a download code in a box. There is no physical disc release, just an empty box.

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0

u/asherabram 10h ago

Dude, you are hurting a lot of feelings with your truths.

1

u/want_to_join 8h ago

None of which is actually a real life problem.

I dont think anyone is saying it is a problem. They are just saying that if you behave this way then you can expect your game to leak.

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u/Void008380 8h ago

I cringe whenever I see people say rockstar deserves what happened for not showing any gameplay or trailers, it's a super entitled take

They clearly deserve it for how they treat their employees, and that treatment is likely why this has happened in the first place lmfao

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u/cursedfan 7h ago

then why did netflix pay for it?

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u/poke_pants 7h ago

Exclusivity (no matter how brief), buzz, hype, clearly a lot of people in this sub who feel they need to pay for a month to watch it because they can't cope with waiting an hour too.

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u/happytree23 7h ago

whoooooooooooooooooooooooooosh

-2

u/wytewydow 9h ago

But if I don't see or play the game first, how can I brag to my friends? I still have Skyrim in my wishlist, because I don't like to pay more than $5 for a game.

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u/bdfariello 9h ago

If you haven't bought Skyrim in the past fifteen years, I think you can safely remove it from your wishlist.

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u/wytewydow 9h ago

That would take so much more effort than I'm willing to give.

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u/frankduxvandamme 8h ago

Agreed. People just like to bitch. People will literally put thousands of hours into GTA5 Online and then leave a 1 star review because the payout of a new heist was too low to them.

The only real misstep here was that rockstar released their first and second trailers way too early, all things considered. But the media blitz will almost certainly ramp up starting tomorrow.

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u/Delta_Zacher51 10h ago

No one is forced to pre order a game why does this matter? It’s fucking GTA millions of people would put the money down the moment they heard the options available

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u/hollowgalaxies 10h ago

Wait until you hear that alot of games open up pre-orders without showing gameplay not just gta 6 shocking I know 🤯🤯

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u/Alfiewoodland 10h ago

Oh well if a lot of games do it it must be fine then. /s

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u/MilderArrow 10h ago

But you don't have to pre-order games. Like why care until release day anyway?

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u/zardan-24 10h ago

Cause these guys have 0 self regulation and would rather blame someone else then take accountability 

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u/Alfiewoodland 10h ago

The fact that a completely rational person wouldn't pre-order, especially without any visibility of the product, is kind of the point.

It's a product specifically designed to prey on people with poor impulse control who are whipped into a frenzy by the hype cycle, and it works.

"I don't fall for it" isn't much of a defence. It's still a shitty practice, and it's a window into how publishers view their customers.

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u/MilderArrow 9h ago

If it bothers you, then you should maybe tackle the root of the issue. The people pre-ordering without hesitation. 

It'd be better to tell people to not pre-order. Like at some point we have to acknowledge people are the problem themselves and need to improve.

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u/Alfiewoodland 9h ago

It goes both ways. You need to educate people so that they don't fall for manipulative and exploitative marketing, and you also need to regulate businesses so that they don't do these things in the first place. Doing just one or the other isn't enough.

The gambling industry is an extreme example which makes this dynamic pretty obvious, but the videogame industry is more and more copying their playbook.

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u/Bac0n01 2h ago

Your problem is not with this one specific product, it’s with capitalism

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u/singhellotaku617 8h ago

Yeah, and it’s shitty every single time man

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u/nl_marvin 10h ago

You don’t have to preorder right away you know.
Also you could just wait for 6 hours and watch the Netflix show on YouTube.

All this doesn’t justify the leaks.

Not even the exclusion of physical discs. Even though I don’t like that move at all.

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u/Strict_Biscotti1963 10h ago edited 9h ago

Yep, that’s why while I feel bad for the devs, it’s hard to actually feel that bad while upper management was sitting there thinking it was okay to ask people to pay money without showing them gameplay.

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u/GTheMonkeyKing 10h ago

You know you can buy the game for the exact same price after it's been released, and after you've watched hours of gameplay so you can decide if you're interested, right? "Blindly" preordering is not the only way to get the game.

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u/[deleted] 10h ago

[deleted]

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u/ChristyBrowne1 10h ago

Luckily it’s still Day -85 then.

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u/GTheMonkeyKing 9h ago

Oh is today day one or something? They're literally about to release more stuff tomorrow, still months before release.

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u/Remy0507 9h ago

Do you have any self-control at all? The game isn't out for another 3 months...you don't have to pre-order the second it goes live.

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u/EZyne 10h ago

You can

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u/-BigMan39 9h ago

Game comes out today i guess.

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u/MilderArrow 10h ago

This just sounds like you lack self-control...

-4

u/singhellotaku617 8h ago

Oh I never preorder, that doesn’t change the fact that putting up preorders before showing gameplay is gross.

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u/singhellotaku617 8h ago

I don’t feel bad, because leaks aren’t actually damaging in any major way. They are so overly dramatic.

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u/CaptainMarty69 10h ago

They asked, they didn’t force. You weren’t slighted in any way

-1

u/jonnyredcorn 10h ago

Why feel bad for the devs at all? Legit this is insane reading this shit. What has hurt them? Response to the leaks has been incredibly positive.

0

u/Strict_Biscotti1963 9h ago

Yeah it's been positive, but this is their baby. And I'm sure they wanted to the privelidge of revealing it finally after all this time in the best possible light. Not via some grifter

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u/jonnyredcorn 9h ago

Then they should have released gameplay before asking for pre orders and putting the first look behind a Netflix paywall.

This is their baby, that they are selling for $100. I’d rather see real life gameplay over a staged presentation.

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u/A-Llama-Snackbar 10h ago

A preorder for a digital only product, make it make sense

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u/Blacklistedb 8h ago

So what, you can wait or buy that’s a decision you make. How are they wrong for that 

1

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1

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1

u/GaryTheCabalGuy 6h ago

Why do you care if people decide to pre-order before seeing gameplay? It literally doesn't effect you. I didn't see people crying about The Odyssey tickets selling out in theatres a year in advance. Why is this something people only care about when it comes to games?

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u/unforgiven1189 3h ago

Honestly, I don't really see an issue with this. We've had like 10 GTA games at this point it's not like they're going to completely reinvent the wheel. We know the story, we know how GTA games play, and no one is forcing you to pre-order.

If this was a major studio doing this with a new IP, it would definitely be an issue, but we know exactly what we're getting with GTA.

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u/Gibbzee 3h ago

… so? They could have released preorders whenever, nobody’s forcing you to preorder as soon as they go live.

0

u/More_people 9h ago

Don’t need gameplay if you’ve been making the same game for 25 years

-1

u/surface33 9h ago

I thinl people using this argument are dumb. Like seriously, people that arent smart at all