As 'GTA 6' gameplay footage continues to leak day after day, the situation has escalated into a legal battle. Take-Two Interactive has demanded identity disclosures from Microsoft (MS) and Discord to reveal the leaker's identity. With Xbox's CTO also publicly expressing a willingness to cooperate, efforts to track down the leaker appear to be gathering momentum. On top of this, circumstances suggest that despite claiming consumer protection as a motive, the leaker is actually generating substantial profits through cryptocurrency.

On August 20, local time, Take-Two filed a subpoena request for identity disclosures in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The filing specifies that copyright-infringing content was posted through specific servers provided by Discord. In addition, accounts presumed to be associated with the servers were listed, including "CYBERLEEK," "CINEMATICROCKSTAR," and "Surfer24k". Take-Two stated that the infringed copyrighted material includes audiovisual content, artwork, images, and dialogue.

Take-Two was reported to have requested identity disclosures not only from Discord but also from Microsoft. The request demands all internal investigation records regarding the "CYBERLEEK" account, containing data necessary to pinpoint the identities of users linked to the leaks. From Discord, Take-Two reportedly requested data including account IDs, registration emails, recent login IP addresses, phone numbers, linked accounts, and device identifiers for all users who communicated with the aforementioned accounts from June 1 to the present.

Scott Van Vliet, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Xbox, stated on his X account that "we are working closely with Take-Two and Rockstar Games to support efforts to protect creative works and intellectual property". This public statement by a senior Microsoft executive is interpreted as signaling a commitment to cooperate beyond mere legal responses. However, despite these legal actions, Rockstar Games is reportedly still unable to pinpoint the actual identity of the leaker.

Controversy surrounding the credibility of the leaker is also escalating. Initially, the leaker explained that the rationale behind releasing the footage was rooted in public interest reasons, such as criticizing game companies' disc-less digital pre-orders, fake DLC sales that unlock content behind separate payments, and demanding offline mode support. However, a memecoin created by the leaker is being promoted within the leaked videos every time new footage is released. Reports indicate that the leaker invested about $29,000 into creating the coin, structured so that transaction fees generated from trading the coin go directly to the leaker. According to some analyses, he recouped his initial investment on the first day of the leak alone by earning approximately $30,000 in fee revenue, and with daily trading volume averaging $2.1 million since then, he is estimated to have accumulated cumulative earnings of $40,000 to $60,000. As the leaker is known to still hold a stash of coins worth $391,000 at market value, speculation is arising that he may be attempting to pump up the coin's price using the leaked content before dumping his holdings.

Meanwhile, as if to flex that he possesses an actual playable build, the leaker also recently released new video footage showing bullet holes shot into a wall spelling out the word "LEEK." This is interpreted as an attempt to demonstrate that he has access to an operable executable file rather than merely pre-recorded videos. As the cryptocurrency exchange used by the leaker is known to be a platform requiring identity verification, attention is focused on whether the information secured by Take-Two combined with the flow of crypto transactions will lead to revealing his real identity.