Rockstar Games, the studio behind Grand Theft Auto, has been hit by a cyberattack for the second time in three years.

A hacker group known as ShinyHunters has threatened to leak data stolen from the company if its ransom demands are not met.
The group initially set a 14 April deadline for Rockstar to open negotiations after reportedly gaining access to company servers hosted by a third-party provider.

“Rockstar Games. Your … data was compromised … Pay or leak,” read a post from the group.

“This is a final warning to reach out by 14 Apr 2026 before we leak along with several annoying (digital) problems that’ll come your way. Make the right decision, don’t be the next headline.”

The group has previously claimed responsibility for targeting major companies including Microsoft, Cisco, and Ticketmaster, among others.

Rockstar downplayed the impact of the breach in a statement, suggesting that no sensitive player data was compromised.

“We can confirm that a limited amount of non-material company information was accessed in connection with a third-party data breach,” the company said. “This incident has no impact on our organisation or our players.”

The ShinyHunters group is linked to “The Com,” a loosely organized network of cybercriminals, often English-speaking and mostly aged between 16 and 25.

Their ransom demand to Rockstar was posted on the group’s leak site, a common tactic used by hackers who pressure victims by threatening to publish stolen data unless payment is made, typically in bitcoin.

Last year, ShinyHunters reportedly accessed the search history and viewing habits of premium users of Pornhub, one of the world’s most visited adult websites.

The Grand Theft Auto series is among the most popular and best-selling video game franchises globally, known for its satirical tone and open-world crime gameplay.

Developed by Rockstar North in Edinburgh, it is also one of the highest-grossing game series in history and a major British cultural export.