Grand Theft Auto 6‘s much-anticipated first trailer was leaked just ahead of its scheduled release date, and the devs who worked on it have reacted with anger and disappointment across social media–most expressing that it had ruined a moment many Rockstar devs had been looking forward to.

Not long before it was meant to debut, the GTA 6 trailer was leaked on social media, the experience further marred by a crypto-related watermark slapped across the footage. The leaker’s account was quickly taken down, and Rockstar pushed up its official release with the statement: “Our trailer has leaked so please watch the real thing on YouTube.”

“,”480”:”nnnnnnnnnn“}},”device”:”other”,”isDevice”:false,”isLiveStream”:false,”videoType”:”video-on-demand”,”countdownTime”:0,”guid”:”gs-2300-6462992″,”ageGateCookieName”:”videoAgeGateBirthday”,”watchedCookieName”:”watchedVideoIds”,”watchedCookieDays”:1,”postPlayMax”:100,”adCall”:{“host”:”http://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/ads?”,”params”:{“iu”:”/5441/vaw-gamespot/desktop/gamespot.com”,”impl”:”s”,”gdfp_req”:1,”env”:”vp”,”output”:”xml_vmap1″,”unviewed_position_start”:1,”url”:”[referrer_url]”,”correlator”:”[timestamp]”,”description_url”:”[description_url]”,”cmsid”:2566084,”vid”:6462992,”pp”:”vpaid_js”},”custParams”:{“ptype”:”news_article”,”cid”:”gs-1100-6519727″,”game”:”grand-theft-auto-vi”,”genre”:”action,adventure”,”con”:”playstation-5,xbox-series-x”,”publisher”:”rockstar-games”,”embed”:”autoplay”,”category”:”games”,”partner”:”desktop/gamespot.com”,”vid”:6462992},”soundBasedSize”:{“normal”:”640×480″,”muted”:”640×483″,”none”:”640×480″},”daiSsbUrl”:”https://dai.google.com/ondemand/hls/content/2572465/vid/6462992/master.m3u8″,”daiMidRollHost”:2500176},”uvpHi5Ima”:”https://s0.2mdn.net/instream/html5/ima3.js”,”cuePoints”:null,”uvpc”:””,”partner”:”gamespot”,”adPartner”:”desktop/gamespot.com”,”desktopAdPartner”:”desktop%2Fgamespot.com”,”mobileAdPartner”:”mobile_web%2Fgamespot.com_mobile”,”mapp”:”gamespot”,”cms”:”pi”,”seekablePlaybacks”:[“html5″,”uvpjs”],”tracking”:[{“name”:”SiteCatalyst”,”category”:”qos”,”enabled”:true,”params”:[{“name”:”charSet”,”value”:”UTF-8″},{“name”:”currencyCode”,”value”:”USD”},{“name”:”siteType”,”value”:”responsive web”},{“name”:”trackingServer”,”value”:”saa.gamespot.com”},{“name”:”visitorNamespace”,”value”:”cbsinteractive”},{“name”:”heartbeatTrackingServer”,”value”:”newimagitasinc.hb.omtrdc.net”},{“name”:”heartbeatVisitorMarketingCloudOrgId”,”value”:”3C66570E5FE1A4AB0A495FFC@AdobeOrg”},{“name”:”partnerID”,”value”:”gamespot”},{“name”:”siteCode”,”value”:”gamespot”},{“name”:”brand”,”value”:”gamespot”},{“name”:”account”,”value”:”cbsigamespotsite”},{“name”:”edition”,”value”:”us”}]},{“name”:”ComScore_ss”,”category”:”qos”,”enabled”:true,”params”:[{“name”:”c2″,”value”:”31824268″},{“name”:”publishersSecret”,”value”:”2cb08ca4d095dd734a374dff8422c2e5″},{“name”:”c3″,”value”:””},{“name”:”partnerID”,”value”:”gamespot”},{“name”:”c4″,”value”:”gamespot”}]},{“name”:”NielsenTracking”,”category”:”tracking”,”enabled”:true,”params”:[{“name”:”host”,”value”:”https://secure-us.imrworldwide.com/cgi-bin/m?”},{“name”:”scCI”,”value”:”us-200330″},{“name”:”scC6″,”value”:”vc,c01″}]},{“name”:”MuxQOSPluginJS”,”category”:”qos”,”enabled”:true,”params”:[{“name”:”propertyKey”,”value”:”b7d6e48b7461a61cb6e863a62″}]}],”trackingAccount”:”cbsigamespotsite”,”trackingSiteCode”:”gs”,”trackingPrimaryId”:”cbsigamespotsite”,”videoAssetSource”:”GameSpot”,”uvpjsHostname”:”//www.gamespot.com”,”siteType”:”responsive web”,”startMuted”:false,”screenMediumThumb”:”https://www.gamespot.com/a/uploads/screen_medium/1352/13527689/4230000-grandtheftautovitrailer1.mp4.00_01_18_07.still003.jpg”,”videoStreams”:{“adaptive_stream”:”https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/AZDVIclg.m3u8″},”userId”:0,”premium”:false,”datePublished”:1701732660,”videoAdPartner”:”desktop%2Fgamespot.com”,”videoAdMobilePartner”:”mobile_web%2Fgamespot.com_mobile”}” data-non-iframe-embed=”1″ data-jw-context-name=”gamespot” data-jw-media-id=”AZDVIclg” data-jw-player-url=”https://cdn.jwplayer.com/libraries/VXc5h4Tf.js” data-jw-video-token=”” data-has-youtube=”” data-youtube-icon-path=”https://www.gamespot.com/a/bundles/phoenixsite/images/core/loose/icn-youtube-30×30.png”>

Now Playing: GTA 6 (Grand Theft Auto VI) Official Trailer

A number of developers reacted on social media, as picked up by IGN, though a few of those posts have since been deleted. One common thread among developer’s reactions was that they were looking forward to watching the trailer together with their co-workers in what would no doubt be an important milestone for the massive project.

Programmer Angel Ortiz tweeted a similar sentiment, saying he was going to wait until he could watch it in the office with the other developers. Others who worked on the game expressed sadness and disappointment, with the way the trailer was revealed to many being a less-than-ideal viewing experience.

Others in the game industry have also weighed in on the leaks, adding their voice to why a leak like this can be so devastating to any studio. “While the cat and mouse game of leak/not leaked is fun to follow on social. Let me tell you it sucks from the inside,” Xbox social media manager Joshua Stein tweeted. “Teams work literally hours, days, weeks, nights, to build the best rollout to capture the attention of social media … Leaks utterly ruin that and waste a ton of work and also risk flat spinning your whole marketing message.”

“The thing I hate most about leaks is that it takes the voice away from the developer,” added Larian director of publishing Michael Douse. “What we should all be looking for is dialogue between devs and communities. But when something leaks, it just becomes f***ing noise.”

Despite its unorthodox release, the official trailer is going wild on YouTube, with record numbers of views piling up. The tweet announcing the trailer’s early release has also become the most liked gaming tweet of all time.

The products discussed here were independently chosen by our editors. GameSpot may get a share of the revenue if you buy anything featured on our site.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

Grand Theft Auto VI
PlayStation 5
Xbox Series X