Biggest Games That Got Leaked Before Launch

Anticipation can be both the enemy and friend of video game developers. While developers can create hype and market an upcoming game by trickling small tidbits of information, it can also cause these very gamers and hackers to try to get information by unethical means and publicly release it online. This can drastically harm the developer's reputation and the anticipation of the game, ultimately affecting sales.

Most of the major games that were leaked before launch are still widely discussed online due to their sheer spectacle and the effort of the hackers in obtaining and circulating information regarding the game. The titles in this list include only the games that have been released. Leaks for any upcoming games won't be a part of this list.

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6 Grand Theft Auto 5

“You Forget A Thousand Things Every Day…”

Being one of the biggest game releases of the decade, GTA 5 was the target of many leaks. Some of these were complete hoaxes, but some were right on the money. Initially, there were fake rumors of GTA 5 being based in Vice City, until VG247 hinted at Rockstar scouting Hollywood for the setting of their next game, confirming the location.

Later, a casting call for the various playable and non-playable characters in the game was reported. While the names of the characters were changed in the final product, the casting call did reveal their age, occupation, and personality. There were also some fake gameplay videos circulating on the internet. Eventually, a promotional poster of Franklin with his dog was leaked by a Polish website, hinting towards a spring 2013 release date.

A month before the game’s release, people who had pre-ordered GTA 5 from the European version of the PlayStation Store were able to download some game files, through which they were able to discover the game’s soundtrack and the main theme.

5 Fallout 4

Kotaku Taking The Charge

Bethesda’s second major entry into the Fallout franchise, considering that the first two games and Fallout: New Vegas weren’t developed by Bethesda, was hit by multiple major leaks before it launched.

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By  Jake Fillery

Initially, there were only hoax leaks that didn’t prove to be true, but the first real leak came from none other than Kotaku, who published their still-infamous article indicating where the game was set, the casting document, and many other important details. This was nearly two years before the game came to the shelves. Bethesda later blocked Kotaku from receiving any insider news from the developer.

4 Red Dead Redemption 2

The Leak Nobody Took Seriously

Rockstar has been on the receiving end of many major leaks, and their second entry into the wild-west world of Red Dead Redemption was no different. Way back in late 2015, a good three years before the release of Red Dead Redemption 2, a former Rockstar employee hinted towards the studio developing the sequel. A few months later, RDR 2’ s in-game open-world map got leaked, and while it was slightly different from the actual map, this counted as the first major leak for the game.

The biggest leak was, in fact, disregarded by everyone as it seemed too far-fetched at the time. No official details about the game had been announced by Rockstar, yet a Reddit user /u/reddeadinsider detailed almost everything about the game, the main character, the plot, and even how players take control of John Marston at the end of the game. Only after Rockstar released trailers talking about the protagonist and the plot did people come back to this Reddit post, realizing how accurate it was, nearly two years before the game’s release.

3 Half-Life 2

The Worst Way To Ask For A Job

Nearly a year before the game was even released, Half-life 2’s leak was more of a theft, performed by a mere teenager named Axel Gembe from Germany. He gained access to Valve’s internal network and was able to leak not only the source code of the game, but also all the developmental files and even an unfinished build of the game.

The leak significantly delayed the game's release, and Valve had to revamp their security and distribution strategy. The funny thing is that five months after the leak, Axel emailed Gabe Newell, the president of Valve, asking for a job to work at the company. However, he was soon tracked down by the FBI and arrested for his crimes.

2 Gears Of War 3

Epic Games In An Epic Pickle

Mere months before the highly anticipated release of Xbox Studio’s third installment to their exclusive cover-shooter IP Gears of War, its playable build was leaked over the internet. The medium of the attack was Epic Games, and since the leaked build was barely in a playable state, Epic Games soon released a statement saying that the leak was of an early build and that the final build would be much more polished than this.

Still, gameplay and nearly the entire campaign from this leaked build made it over to YouTube. This not only spoiled the game for many players, but even ruined fans’ expectations due to the build’s quality.

1 Horizon Forbidden West

Alpha Aloy Makes An Appearance

Months before the game’s official launch on PS5, Horizon Forbidden West’s debugged alpha build was leaked online. To this day, no one knows who did this and how it happened, but on December 28, 2021, a downloadable file called “TestGame” was uploaded to PSX, a popular PlayStation hacking platform.

Not only were people able to download this build and play it on their jailbroken PS4s, but since the build had its debug menu enabled, players could go anywhere and see things and locations in the game that they weren’t meant to see. Even features that were later removed from the final game was present in this build. The build is still available on the internet, even two years after the game’s official release.