The Viral GTA 6 Netflix Leak Just Got Debunked

For about a day, a good chunk of the internet was convinced Rockstar Games' plans for Grand Theft Auto VI on Netflix was not just one, not just two, but, in total, three championships episodes in total. Unfortunately, the leak started falling apart as soon as people actually bothered to look at the screenshot.

Before we dive into that though, this is what's in store for the next Grand Theft Auto for the next couple of weeks for those who haven't had a chance to open their social media accounts just yet. Rockstar is about to do an industry-first Netflix premiere on August 27 for something it calls Grand Theft Auto VI: An Extended Look. As expected, nobody outside the company knows how long it runs or how it is put together, and, to no one's surprise, people started making things up immediately, including a screenshot, posted on the GTA 6 subreddit, of Netflix's Portugal page appearing to list the upcoming preview as three separate episodes running 23, 24, and 18 minutes.

The listing apparently almost immediately vanished, and several people believed this helped prove that someone over at Netflix made an oopsie.

However, as we've already mentioned, the leak doesn't hold up to scrutiny. On a real Netflix page, the Episodes section sits above the More Details section. In the screenshot doing the rounds, it is underneath it, backwards. Someone even went as far as to rebuild a more accurate-looking version of the fake in about two minutes using browser developer tools, the built-in feature that lets anyone rewrite what a webpage looks like on their own screen.

Besides, a leak this big and nobody else managed to grab the same Netflix Portugal page while it was allegedly live screams red flag.

Here's the thing about Netflix and Rockstar partnering up. This isn't just something Rockstar did because of money. We don't even know if Netflix paid for this marketing opportunity. What we do know is that Rockstar has found itself subjected to numerous leaks already, back in 2022 and 2023, particularly. History is why Rockstar trusted no one with the second trailer. So for Rockstar to give Netflix this chance means that it trusts the streaming giant not to spoil its plans, and for the most part, Netflix has proven deserving of this.

Remember that Netflix is a company so protective of unreleased content that Stranger Things, one of its biggest originals and among the most streamed shows on the planet, do not spring leaks like this. Netflix doesn't do leaks, especially not by accident, in Portuguese, on exactly the page the entire gaming world is refreshing round the clock.

So why did the leak travel so far anyway if it wasn't true? This is just how it goes now. Rockstar tells the public almost nothing, so every regional store page, every Netflix metadata hiccup, every squint-at-the-pixels screenshot gets treated as information from inside the studio. t is the same engine that keeps pumping out AI-generated fakes dressed up as real leaks, and it runs on the simple fact that a GTA rumor, true or not, prints traffic.

To be fair to the idea, if not to the screenshot, a multi-part format is not actually far-fetched. Take-Two Interactive chief executive Strauss Zelnick has said the Netflix deal will make more sense once the Extended Look airs, and splitting one huge movie thrice is the best way to stretch what has, so far, been the shortest and most intense marketing a game has ever received.

If you want the parts that are genuinely confirmed for the next GTA 6 preview, we have rounded up what to really expect on August 27. Everything else is just people squinting at a screenshot until the countdown to November 19 runs out.