YouTuber Named in Take-Two GTA 6 Leaker Subpoena Insists He Did Nothing Wrong
The YouTuber named in Take-Two's GTA 6 leaker subpoena has denied any wrongdoing.
Today it emerged that Take-Two had issued a subpoena in a federal court requesting information from both Microsoft and Discord as it hunts the leaker or leakers behind the recent spate of GTA 6 gameplay videos.
First reported by Kotaku, the Rockstar Games parent company issued the request yesterday, August 20, in the New York Southern District Court as part of a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) subpoena. It wants information and records relating to the ‘CyberLeek’ account, which is allegedly behind the GTA 6 leaks.
The subpoena requests identifying information associated with user accounts that were members of a number of Discord servers. One of the Discord servers mentioned in the filing is 'discord.gg/darkviperau,' which is described as the DarkViperAU editors' server. DarkViperAU is the online name of Australian GTA content creator Matthew "Matt" Judge, who has 2.27 million subscribers on YouTube and nearly 900,000 followers on Twitch. Judge has published detailed breakdowns of the leaked GTA 6 videos this week on his various channels.
In a tweet, Judge responded to Take-Two's subpoena and the mention of his name within it. "I don't know anything," he insisted. "That isn't my editors’ Discord. There aren't even any clips of the leaks in either of my Discords.
"I am confused. I did say he can't drive multiple times, so maybe I caused him to write 'Cyberleek can't drive' on the most recent clips? Maybe he visited my Discord, I dunno. Rockstar hasn't emailed me, I suspect if they thought I knew something personally they would do so.
"Everyone is talking about these leaks, I am not special, hopefully."
Judge then held a three-hour livestream across YouTube and Twitch titled, “TakeTwo Has Subpoenad [sic] My Discord To Look For Leaker (News),” to respond further. Clearly shocked at recent events, Judge joked: “Rockstar just murdered me. I got better though.”
Judge said he “accidentally” showed a screenshot of the latest leaked GTA 6 video on-stream, but he immediately took it down and deleted it “because I don’t want to get in trouble.”
While the GTA 6 leaks were discussed and may have even been shared in his Discord, Judge insisted he had nothing to do with how the videos hit the internet. "I don't know this leaker!" Judge said. "I have personally shared nothing... at least not intentionally."
Judge continued: "I'm hoping this is one hand not speaking to the other hand, kind of thing. As in, the people at Take-Two have no idea who I am and so subpoenaed this stuff not knowing anyone at Rockstar could have DMd me at any time, or emailed me. I have had dozens of conversations with people from Rockstar Games. If Rockstar was truly unhappy with something I was doing, I think they would have just emailed me. Or they would have emailed all of us, because we're all on a community email."
"This has been an interesting time,” he concluded. “I'm sure I'm gonna be fine, guys. This is weird, but I’ve done nothing wrong. No-one’s done anything wrong. It’s just interesting. Definitely one for the history books. One more thing to add to my very very long, strange career.
“And if the feds ask you stuff, don’t tell them anything,” he joked, once again. "Deny everything chat! Burn the evidence!"
"The copyrighted material includes but is not limited to audio visual content, artwork, images, dialogue, or other creative elements," the filing reads. "Take-Two, through its counsel of record, has submitted a sworn declaration confirming that the purpose for which the DMCA subpoena is sought is to obtain the identity of an alleged infringer or infringers, and that such information will only be used for the purpose of protecting Take-Two’s rights."
Neither Take-Two nor Rockstar have commented on the recent GTA 6 leaks, nor have the companies commented on the court filing. IGN has asked for comment.
The subpoena has emerged even as the leaker continues to release GTA 6 gameplay videos. Today, August 21, the GTA 6 leaks stretched into a fourth consecutive day after yet another gameplay video hit the internet. As with the previously released videos, it advertises a memecoin, which one GTA fan recently traced to a Seychelles-based cryptocurrency exchange that might be used to identify the leaker. The watermark on this latest video reads: "HIGHER MARKET CAP = MORE LEEKS."
The leaks come just a week before the release of Grand Theft Auto 6: An Extended Look, which is a timed Netflix exclusive. That’s due Thursday, August 27, and will remain exclusive on Netflix for six hours before it makes its way to other platforms such as YouTube.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.