The massive GTA 6 leaks weren’t that big a deal, according to one former Rockstar developer who says they only mattered at all because the studio is so secretive.

In a recent interview with San In Play, GTA 3 and San Andreas developer Obbe Vermeij was asked whether he’d been aware of the huge GTA 6 leak that took place in September 2022. In response, Vermeij said that he hadn’t followed the leak closely, but that’s because “the leaks are usually not as important as people think.”

“It’s just because there are millions of people waiting for any news, and Rockstar doesn’t give them any news,” explains Vermeij, who has spent a significant chunk of his time over the past few years pulling back the curtain on the development of the studio’s earlier games. 

Vermeij explains that he can “totally understand” why those studios never offer any news, “because whenever a big company says anything, whether it’s Rockstar or EA or Ubisoft of whatever, it gets analyzed and it often gets run negatively.” From the developer’s point of view, then, “their best bet is just to be quiet. That’s what they’re doing. It’s a shame it’s gone that way, but it’s not just their fault.”

Rockstar says that the GTA 6 leak was “extremely” disappointing, and claimed that the reveal of dozens of early gameplay videos and screenshots cost it $5 million and “thousands of hours of staff time”. Since that leak, we’ve had a much closer look at the game thanks to the GTA 6 trailer, but according to Vermeij, even that might not be too much to get excited about - he’s long-removed from Rockstar itself, but his prediction is that GTA 6 won’t be “wildly different” from GTA 5 - and that might disappoint a few fans.

Eagle-eyed GTA 6 fans think Rockstar could be hinting at a new trailer release date via an unassuming pizza delivery clip - which probably only proves Vermeij’s point.