Rockstar Games have put out a statement publicly acknowledging the ongoing GTA 6 leaks for the first time. Though they and parent company Take-Two have already gotten the ball rolling on hunting down the leaker, the studio had stayed silent in terms of public-facing comms up until now.

“We know that many of you have been waiting to hear from us regarding the events of the past week,” the statement posted to Rockstar’s socials starts. “It would be an understatement to say that having videos of Grand Theft Auto VI gameplay leak 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.

“We are very sorry that everything has taken as long as it has — from getting the game finished (nearly there!) to sharing more details and official gameplay, and providing the community with everything you want to know,” it continues. “We are very excited for everyone to see the Extended Look tomorrow. It has taken longer than we wanted to get it ready, but as with everything we do, we know we need to exceed your expectations, and we are determined to deliver at the level you expect and deserve. While it is unfortunate that the intended game experience may now be impacted by some spoilers, we hope that everyone will wait a bit longer to experience the game for themselves on November 19th.”

So, the studio have made peace with the fact they might not be able to stop the leakers from sharing bits of the game’s story. Another bit of the statement which sticks out to me is the part apologising for it having taken so long for Rockstar to share details about and gameplay from GTA 6 via official channels. It’s certainly not excusing the leaks, but does read like an acknowledgement that the fact the studio have waited so long to show the game in action has contributed to the growing appetite players have to see that as release creeps ever closer, a fix many will have settled for getting by dissecting every one of the leaked clips.

“We want to thank everyone in the community who has reached out with messages of support this past week — your words have meant more to this team than you can imagine,” Rockstar said in closing. “Ultimately, we are making this game for you, and without you, we would not have had the privilege of making games.”

As mentioned in the statement, an “extended look” at GTA 6 is set to premiere on Netflix tomorrow, August 27th. It’ll hit YouTube six hours after that Netflix debut.