Journalists played GTA VI on PS5 due to security issues on Xbox — insider reveals leak protection measures
Translated with AI from the Russian original.
The developers were concerned about leaks and took a number of measures to prevent them.
Some gaming journalists have already had a chance to play Grand Theft Auto VI. The developers focused on security to prevent leaks akin to Cyberleek.
Earlier, reports emerged online claiming that custom “watermarks” had been added to the gameplay for protection—supposedly making it easy to identify the source of a leak. However, according to PorkPoncho, the watermark story is “complete nonsense” spread by people “trying to chase clout”.
According to him, Rockstar Games used a smarter method to track potential leaks. That is why, PorkPoncho explains, GTA VI copies were distributed in a special way:
Reviewers were not given game activation codes. Instead, Rockstar, in collaboration with PlayStation, used a method where the game is “locked” to a specific account on a specific console.
He noted that last month, hackers compiled a list of PSN accounts that might have had access to GTA VI and attempted to steal them:
Almost all attempts ended in failure. But, as far as I understand, they still managed to gain access to at least one account. Nevertheless, after logging into it from another console, its PSN connection was immediately blocked completely.
PorkPoncho also mentioned that no review copies of GTA VI were provided for Xbox at all:
This has nothing to do with the marketing agreement between Rockstar and PlayStation. In fact, the reason is that the process of providing review copies on Xbox does not meet Rockstar’s security requirements.
PorkPoncho then explained that he had spoken with three sources who review games and are familiar with the situation. Two people told him that there are no review copies of GTA VI on Xbox whatsoever.
A third source said they were unaware of the existence of Xbox copies, but added that if they do exist, access to them is likely restricted to an extremely narrow circle of people—more likely Xbox employees themselves rather than reviewers from specialized outlets.
The release of Grand Theft Auto VI is scheduled for November 19, 2026, on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S consoles.
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