A page for CYBERLEEK, a hacker group responsible for a large-scale leak of GTA 6 data, has appeared on the Internet. In this case, the organization’s basic information and arguments are published on this page. We are releasing the manifesto in its entirety.
***
Cyberik
Born on the Internet. She has seen gaming at its best and has seen the industry’s use of gaming. Slowly. Be methodical. One monetization solution at a time.
Publishers sell licenses and call it a purchase. They release unfinished games and call them live services. They block the content on the disc and call it DLC. They kill the game and keep the money for themselves. Anti-consumerism is getting stronger every year, and players are spending less and less money.
To fight this war, CYBERLEEK is raising funds for a secret project. Details have yet to be revealed; showing the big players means giving them time to build up their defences. Let’s be clear: this is not a money grab. Funding goes toward the infrastructure needed to launch an attack, as well as the security and defense needed to withstand the inevitable corporate counterattack.
CYBERLEEK is very patient. This patience is over. The following are the three commandments. If CYBERLEEK targets a publisher, it is because the publisher violated one of our policies. CYBERLEEK will not stop until they make a public statement and apology, with a concrete commitment to do better. Words are not enough; compensation is needed.
Commandment 1: Don’t sell digital pre-orders
No consumer should purchase a game through a digital store before it has been released and independently reviewed. Physical pre-orders for physical media are still allowed.
Pre-orders are not created for gamers. They were created because of the manufacturing limitations of physical discs. Distributed digitally, there is no inventory. There is no shortage of goods. Digital copies cannot be sold out. However, publishers retained the reservation system and took away its only consumer advantage. Now, players pay upfront and get nothing in return other than a countdown timer and cosmetic skins.
If the publisher wants to make money before release, let them press the disc. The box is printed. They put them on the shelf. They earn this money through physical production.
Commandment II: Don’t sell fake single-player DLC
No publisher should sell access to single-player content that already exists in the base game files purchased by consumers. This means: no unlock keys, no 1MB stub files, no need to switch variables from “locked” to “unlocked” for content on disk or in downloads.
When someone pays $70+ for a game, they are buying data. The whole thing. Selling them a file that changes locked=true to locked=false for a single player mission, character, weapon, or story chapter is equivalent to charging them twice as much for the same product.
Commandment Three: Save Single Player Content
Any game with single player content should include an offline mode as a fallback option. When server support ends, publishers will need to release a final patch that unlocks all single-player content for permanent local play.
The Crew has a single-player campaign. People paid full price. Then Ubisoft shut down the servers and the entire game died – including the single-player content. No refunds will be given. There are no patches. There is no choice. Single-user content depends on one thing: the hardware the consumer already owns. Turning a server into a brick when it’s down is theft.
last word
These three commandments are the lower limit of what is acceptable, not the upper limit. If publishers violate these rules, they will be targeted. CYBERLEEK will continue to disrupt their operations until they issue a public statement and apology with a concrete commitment to redress the harm caused. There were no private negotiations. There are no quiet settlements. The public has seen this, otherwise the “leaks” would not stop.
Publishers should be careful. If CYBERLEEK can attack Rockstar, no one is safe. This is a message to all big companies: behave or you will be the next target.
This is a CYBERLEEK law and is non-negotiable.
