Rockstar Protects GTA 6 Review Copies with Hidden Tags

Review copies of GTA 6 are already with the press, and within days, a rumor surfaced and disappeared about the reviewer's name flashing right over the image. Insiders Tom Henderson and NateTheHate both denied it, but journalists remain uneasy: according to them, Rockstar has implemented much stricter measures to ensure that no footage from the game is shown or even acknowledged before the embargo lifts on November 18.

Head of Insider Gaming Henderson initially called such restrictions standard practice for remote reviews. He then delved into the details and admitted that the story of visible tags is not confirmed, but added: "However, Rockstar's security measures are simply insane."

The absence of a visible tag does not mean the absence of a tag altogether. Modern protection works on the principle of a "canary trap," where each copy is subtly different from the others: a couple of pixels of a different shade in certain frames, slightly altered dialogue, atypical NPC behavior, or an increased chance of encountering a specific car model. The leaked video will look flawless, but tracing the source will be a matter of technique.

There are plenty of precedents. Blizzard has been embedding invisible account data tags in World of Warcraft screenshots for years, and Microsoft hid console identifiers in the ring pattern on the Xbox 360 interface beta version. British broadcaster Sky uses a similar method to determine which subscription pirate football broadcasts are coming from. Against this backdrop, the diagonal semi-transparent text across the screen during the Rainbow Six Extraction playtest and the Nintendo DS, which Jeff Gerstmann recalls being literally tied to the table, seem like primitive technology.

The main deterrent lies not in the code but in reputation. Kotaku lost review copies from Bethesda after publishing documents about Fallout 4, and The Verge's relationship with Valve soured due to an article about Deadlock. The story with Red Dead Redemption 2 was also recalled: a reviewer sent a couple of clips to a friend, which spread across ResetEra and 4chan, after which, according to the distributor, investigators from Take-Two visited his home.

There are no visible watermarks in the review copies of GTA 6, but the feeling of being watched comes with each one.