ShinyHunters breached Rockstar Games in ransomware attack, sets April 14 deadline

Grand Theft Auto VI is one of the most anticipated video games of all time and is also quickly becoming one of the most prematurely pirated games.

Originally reported by Hackread and The Cybersec Guru, prominent hacker group ShinyHunters claimed to have hacked RGT developer Rockstar Games this weekend. The group said it was in possession of valuable data and set a deadline of Tuesday, April 14 for Rockstar to pay, lest the data be made public.

“Rockstar Games, your Snowflake instances have been compromised thanks to Anodot.com. Pay or flee,” ShinyHunters said in a statement on Saturday. “This is a final warning to be given before April 14, 2026 before a leak, as well as several annoying (digital) problems that will come your way. Make the right decision, don’t make the headlines.”

However, Rockstar presents things a little differently. In a statement to Kotaku, the company downplayed its concerns about the hardware in question.

“We can confirm that a limited amount of non-material company information was accessed as part of a third-party data breach,” Rockstar said. “This incident has no impact on our organization or our players.”

Reports indicate that the hack was less focused on personal data and more on company assets. In other words, it doesn’t seem like player information is at stake here (as Rockstar said), but things like marketing materials could see the light of day before Rockstar wants them to.

If ShinyHunters looks familiar, that’s because the group has also been responsible for major hacks of Salesforce and Bumble in recent years.

As for GTA VIRockstar had to do damage control after a major hack revealed some details of the game in advance, as early as 2022. With the game scheduled to release in November this year, we hope the leaks end soon one way or another.