Monetisation has arrived for the crew behind the rolling Grand Theft Auto VI leaks: anyone hoping to make contact is now being asked to hand over $169,000 in cryptocurrency.
A “contact” tab has appeared on CyberLeek’s decentralised websites, inviting visitors to buy advertising space on the leaked GTA VI material the group keeps releasing.
“Options include buying advertisements (such as watermarks on videos) or ordering customised game material tailored to specific brands (including sexual content). All prices, terms and deliverables are discussed privately via Session,” the group states. Session is an end-to-end encrypted messaging platform.
The catch is the price of admission. The group insists on a “contact fee” in the form of a 400 Monero donation — around $169,000 at current values. “The Monero transfer functions as a contact fee that guarantees CYBERLEEK will respond in order to begin the conversation,” the group says.
A high-risk payment
Whether anyone would actually part with that kind of money is questionable. Beyond the cost, sending funds to a group notorious for distributing copyrighted material could leave the sender facing legal scrutiny and lawsuits.
Regardless, the GTA VI leaks may already have turned into a profitable crypto scheme for CyberLeek. Donations to the group’s Solana-based “meme coin” have been solicited since day one, prompting critics to label the entire operation a scam. As the token’s popularity surged, evidence suggests transaction fees alone have netted CyberLeek somewhere between $40,000 and $60,000.
Leaks continue as Rockstar stays silent
New material from the unreleased game keeps appearing as the group works to hold public attention — a pattern that all but confirms CyberLeek got hold of a GTA VI test build. Whether developer Rockstar Games was breached, or the material came from a game tester or an ex-employee, remains unknown.
In the latest leaked clip, the protagonist pays a visit to a strip club. The group is also dangling the threat of releasing story-revealing gameplay footage — and, once again, is asking for meme coin donations to make it happen.
So far, Rockstar Games has said nothing publicly. Its parent company has issued subpoenas to Discord, Microsoft and now Google and X/Twitter, apparently hoping to identify who is behind the leaks. Whether CyberLeek ever touched any of those platforms is another matter entirely.
There is a certain irony in the possibility that the leaks may end up generating greater hype for GTA VI. As a former technical director at Rockstar North, the Edinburgh-based Rockstar Games studio, put it: “90% of future players don’t spend their time online looking for video clips. They don’t have the time and they don’t want spoilers.”