2023's Biggest Video Game Leaks, From Wolverine To GTA

Let’s just start with the big one: Grand Theft Auto 6’s trailer, scheduled to premiere on December 5 at 9 a.m. ET, may well have been the most anticipated video game reveal of the decade. Hardcore fans were virtually camping on social media, waiting for the video to drop at the appointed time. Unfortunately for Rockstar a leaker had other plans, and released a heavily watermarked version of the hugely hyped trailer the evening before. This forced Rockstar to hurriedly post the official trailer barely an hour later so everyone could enjoy it at full resolution.

Following the immense GTA6 leaks from last year, and given the historically secretive nature of Grand Theft Auto reveals, this was arguably one of 2023’s biggest leaks.

Insomniac Games got hit with a rather unfortunate ransomware attack that seemingly spilled all the beans on the studio’s all-Marvel release schedule for the remaining bulk of this decade. This leak isn’t just game details, as the hackers are inexcusably exposing the personal details of various people. Shame on those engaging in such awful behavior.

Read More: Massive Hack reveals New Venom And X-Men Games Combing By 2030

The more harmless (depending on who you ask) details sure are thorough though. Insomniac is expected to deliver a Venom game in 2024, followed by Wolverine in 2026, and a follow-up to Spider-Man 3 in 2028. We’ve already seen a not-insignificant amount of leaked Wolverine footage.

Once Insomniac’s done cranking out all the Marvel games, it’ll finally put out a new Ratchet and Clank in 2029. Then it’s apparently back to X-Men in 2030.

Read More: Wolverine PS5 Gameplay Leaks After Unprecedented Insomniac Games Hack

Perhaps the cheeriest news is that Insomniac aims to have some “New IP” games in 2031 and 2035. Check out all the details (including some multiplayer titles) in our coverage of the spilled beans.

But seriously, what do I have to do to get a new Resistance game?

The Last of Us Part II Remastered, also known as Ellie’s Eat, Prey, Love, Seattle Edition, is on its way. We got the deets by way of a classic “whoops, someone let that store listing go up when they weren’t supposed to.” Always a hit.

It is now customary midway through a console’s lifespan, particularly with Sony, to expect a smaller, “slim” variant that pairs down the game machine’s size and maybe makes a few other adjustments here and there.

Back in August we got a look at an apparently 30 percent smaller PS5 unit via leaks. Sure enough, the previously unseen machine proceeded to make its way to store shelves in November, complete with a newly optional, attachable disc drive that requires you to connect to the internet, for…reasons.

The Portal is an odd yet kinda interesting device, one that dedicated PlayStation fans are finding charm in. Before its intended debut, we got an early look at the $200, streaming-only, non-Bluetooth-compatible machine via videos on the social media site we now sometimes call “X.”

Microsoft wasn’t immune from the leak bug going around this year. As a result of the saga that was Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision, we got an advance look at a trash-can-shaped, discless refresh Xbox Series X expected at some point in the future, as well as a new controller that could feature more native xCloud game streaming integration and overhauled haptic feedback.

But that wasn’t all. The same leaks also revealed behind-the-scenes email conversations among the Xbox team, including Xbox Studios head Matt Booty strategizing over how Xbox could end up “spending Sony out of business.” Neat! There were also plans for a Redfall TV show.

You know, come to think of it, I’d hate-watch that.

Early on in 2023, Suicide Squad had its live-service nature spoiled a bit by a post on 4chan that revealed it would feature a battle pass. (Thankfully, it now seems like the game will get an offline mode at some point.)

Menu screenshots weren’t all that leaked. As reported by Polygon, intricate plot details are out there, too. So if you don’t want to know the story’s a riveting and original saga of invincible people punching each other into buildings over and over again, maybe don’t read those.

Anticipation was high for Link’s follow-up to recent series high point The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Unfortunately, intricate details about the plot spilled out following a leak that made the game free to download if you knew where to look. As with many Nintendo Switch first-party releases these past few years, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom was ripped and available to illegally download some two weeks ahead of its official release date. Oops. The leak eventually resulted in the death of a longstanding piracy subreddit

Read More: Ex-Nintendo Of America President Memes On Zelda Leaks

Earlier in the year, scans from a huge Zelda artbook hit the net. Nintendo didn’t think this was too funny, and so like any wealthy Danish heavy metal drummer, it used the legal system to secure personal info about the leakers, including names, phone numbers, addresses, and emails.

Back in April, streamer Ekuegan found himself in a bit of controversy after allegedly leaking details about Destiny’s future content. Initially there was some skepticism that Ekuegan had actually done the things he was accused of. Bungie followed up with a statement saying that it had, in no uncertain terms, “irrefutable evidence” that Ekuegan wasn’t just responsible for recent leaks, but had allegedly been guilty of Destiny 2 leaks for years.

As with Dragon Age’s sister franchise, Mass Effect, BioWare has typically kept its cards close to its chest concerning anything and everything about the medieval RPG series. A post on Twitter, however, leaked portions of the gameplay, showing off a God of War-like makeover featuring real-time combat and a lack of party controls. Based on online reactions, this similarity to an existing and unrelated franchise was not really what fans were hoping for in the next chapter of Dragon Age.

After tossing up some Starfield gameplay to the internet, and then, uh, selling stolen copies of the game before its release date, gamer Darin Harris was in a bit of a pickle. He faced felony charges and up to 12 years in jail over the deed.

Okay so while not technically a gaming leak, this one deserves mention. Back in April, secret military intel regarding the war in Ukraine made its way to Discord, the chat app popular with gamers. The leaker, one Jack Teixeira, was in the 102nd Intelligence Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard.

Beyond Good & Evil is expected to get a remaster sometime next year. Details emerged by way of another classic leak source: the ESRB, which is the organization that gives age ratings to video games. Whoops! Ubisoft finally fessed up to the game’s existence after Ubisoft+ subscribers somehow getting access to the new version of the 2003 game. Seems some secrets are determined to step into the light.

A treasure trove of old-school internal Sega documents from the ‘90s hit the web earlier this year, making for a bit of a field day for game historians. It included details about Sega Saturn’s attempts to win the 32-bit console war against the original Sony PlayStation, as well as details on the company’s marketing efforts.

Far Cry was a very, very different game back in 2004. And as was customary of Crytek productions, it certainly was a technical and visual treat. All the juicy code behind the scenes made its way to the Internet Archive in June.

1993’s Mortal Kombat II saw its source code tossed up to GitHub at the start of the year. A DMCA takedown delivered a swift fatality, but now it’ll always be floating around the internet, somewhere.

Nintendo’s return-to-form Super Mario Bros. Wonder also suffered an unfortunate leak shortly before its launch date. Modders then creatively refreshed the dialogue with colorful language before Nintendo decided to be prudes about the whole thing.

At the start of the year, screenshots and video of a new game in Guerrilla’s post-apocalyptic, robo-dino extravaganza Horizon franchise hit the net. Unexpectedly perhaps, the game looked rather cartoonish. Not much else is known right now about this project.

Along with a whole buncha Counter-Strike materials leaking out, we also got a look at “Counter-Strike: Condition Zero,” an apparent precursor to co-op zombie shooter Left 4 Dead. Unlike many other leaked builds of games, you can actually play this one by way of a mod for Counter-Strike: Source.

And that wraps our roll call of 2023’s most messy, scandalous video game leaks. Which ones struck you as most exciting? Or most disruptive?

Update 12/20/2023 10:30 a.m. ET: This post has been updated to correct Lars Ulrich’s nationality.