How was the official GTA 6 trailer leaked: Everything known so far

The launch of the first official GTA 6 trailer was a huge event in the global gaming scene. Rockstar Games had informed fans on social media that it would be premiered on December 5, 2023, at 9 am ET. The video was listed on YouTube, and set to go live at the aforementioned date and time. However, the trailer got leaked well ahead of schedule, adding to Rockstar's bad luck with GTA 6-related leaks.

Six months have passed since the incident took place and now, some intriguing information regarding how it all supposedly went down has surfaced online. So, let's look at everything known so far about how the official GTA 6 trailer leaked.

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Threat actor Skenkir reportedly leaked the first official GTA 6 trailer

An X user has provided a timeline of the GTA 6 trailer leak incident (Image via X/@zachxbt)

As can be seen in the image attached above, X user @zachxbt states that a threat actor going by the alias Skenkir leaked the first official GTA 6 trailer. According to the information provided, the leaker bought access to a YouTube admin panel that let him access the video before it officially went live.

Skenkir then reportedly went over to Telegram and expressed the desire to leak it with a BUY $BTC watermark. The leaker inquired about where he could upload the upcoming Rockstar title's trailer and even posted a screenshot from it in the same Telegram chat, showing the GTA 6 release window of 2025.

Here are two screenshots of that Telegram chat that were attached in @zachxbt's tweet:

Screenshots of the leaker's Telegram chat (Images via X/@zachxbt)

The video was eventually leaked on X, with a BUY $BTC watermark pasted over it, from an account that shortly got suspended.

Rockstar Games acknowledged the leak after some time, just as it did after the September 2022 GTA 6 leaks, and uploaded the official trailer on YouTube well before the planned release time. Luckily, it doesn't seem like the trailer leak caused too much damage as the official version received millions of views and broke quite a few records as well.

From where exactly the information behind this unfortunate incident has surfaced online is unclear. That being said, reputed gaming industry insider, Tom Henderson, mentioned in a recent tweet that YouTube had investigated employees breaching contractual agreements and accessing content on the backend.

Since Skenkir reportedly accessed the GTA 6 trailer by purchasing a YouTube admin panel, this might have something to do with it.

As mentioned previously, Rockstar Games has had really bad luck with leaks related to this upcoming title and will have to be very cautious to ensure that such incidents do not repeat with content like GTA 6 trailer 2. The studio hasn't revealed a release date for that, but it is expected to be out by the end of this year (2024).