Xbox CTO Pledges Cooperation After GTA 6 Subpoena Granted

A New York court granted Take-Two's subpoena requests against Microsoft and Discord on Friday, clearing the way for the publisher to obtain information tied to the Cyberleek hacks that leaked GTA 6 footage. Xbox CTO Scott Van Vliet publicly pledged the company's cooperation, a response that signals Rockstar's parent company is moving aggressively to identify the leakers.

The subpoenas target Microsoft and Discord as part of Take-Two's effort to trace the source of the Cyberleek leaks, a series of breaches that spilled early GTA 6 material online. Van Vliet's statement, made on the same day as the ruling, confirms Xbox will comply with the court order. Discord has acknowledged the subpoena, with a spokesperson telling Variety that the company reviews and complies with valid subpoenas as standard practice.

The court moved quickly. Take-Two filed the applications on Thursday, August 20, under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, and a judge in the Southern District of New York granted both by Friday. Game File's Stephen Totilo reported the orders on August 22, noting the Microsoft docket entry appeared roughly an hour after Van Vliet posted his statement. The subpoenas set a production deadline of September 4 at 10 a.m. EDT.

The Microsoft subpoena goes beyond a single account. It asks for internal business and investigative records tied to Microsoft's own probe of the 'cyberleek' persona, plus account details, linked services, IP addresses, device identifiers, and OneDrive content. The Discord request targets accounts and communities Take-Two believes posted or circulated the leaked material. The logic is straightforward: the clips were posted to GitHub, which Microsoft owns, and shared through Discord, so the platforms hold the data that could unmask the person behind the CYBERLEEK name.

For GTA 6 fans, this is more than legal paperwork. The leaks have already spoiled some of the game's surprises, from map details to character moments. If Take-Two can force the platforms to hand over user data, it could identify the leakers and pursue damages, and the threat of that outcome may deter future leaks. That could protect the remaining surprises between now and the November 19 launch.

Take-Two's approach is a familiar one in the games industry. Publishers routinely subpoena platforms like Discord and Microsoft when their games leak, hoping to unmask anonymous leakers. The difference here is the scale: GTA 6 is one of the most anticipated games ever, and the Cyberleek hacks produced a flood of material. By going after the platforms rather than just the leakers, Take-Two is signaling it will use every legal tool to control the narrative around its biggest release.

The subpoenas do not affect the game's development or its release date. GTA 6 is still set for November 19 on PS5 and Xbox Series X and S, with pre-orders open and the $79.99 Standard and $99.99 Ultimate editions available. The legal action is about protecting the game's marketing and the element of surprise, not about changing the product. The ongoing debate over pre-order splits is separate from this legal fight.

The Cyberleek operation has been unusual beyond the volume of the footage. Rather than a single dump, new material appeared repeatedly through the week, and the persona has been pitching a Solana memecoin and offering paid 'in-video ads' and custom gameplay footage, asking more than $164,000 in crypto just to open contact. Rockstar has not publicly authenticated any of the videos, and the age of the build shown in them remains unknown. That matters for how much of the final game the leaks actually reveal, since an early build may not reflect what ships in November.

What remains unclear is how much data Microsoft and Discord will actually hand over, and whether it will lead to arrests or lawsuits against specific individuals. Take-Two has not commented on the ruling. The full scope of the Cyberleek leaks is also still being assessed, with some material possibly never made public.

The court's decision, combined with Van Vliet's cooperation pledge, suggests that the industry's biggest players are taking leak prevention seriously. For fans, the hope is that the remaining months before launch stay quiet, so the game's biggest moments land as intended. That outcome now looks more likely, if only because the legal consequences of leaking have become more concrete.