GTA 5 has suffered a brand new leak that means Rockstar Video games had formidable, city-sized DLC plans for the sport.
Stories rising on-line at this time point out a close to 200GB model of the GTA 5 supply code initially leaked in 2023 has now been made public, and events are analyzing it as we communicate. The spotlight here’s what appears to be like like a Liberty Metropolis DLC for GTA 5 that clearly by no means noticed the sunshine of day (GTA On-line’s huge success steered Rockstar away from story DLC in direction of multiplayer centered updates).
In line with X / Twitter person TJGM, the Liberty Metropolis DLC discovered within the recordsdata has been extrapolated and visualized to point out simply how a lot greater this model of the town is in comparison with the one present in GTA 4. “Here is a have a look at the expanded Liberty Metropolis format,” they tweeted. “This define of the map is drawn primarily based on the place shorelines are, the traces point out zones that play shoreline audio.”
There may be hypothesis on-line that this Liberty Metropolis DLC could have been held again for GTA 6, however there isn’t a proof to recommend that’s Rockstar’s plan.
Extra has emerged from this leak: Agent Trevor DLC mission names; lower autos, lower dialogue, lower cutscenes, and extra on GTA 5. There additionally seems to be very early GTA 6 work within the recordsdata.
On Agent Trevor, GTA followers have recognized for a while that Rockstar labored on a single-player DLC for GTA 5 that will have seen Trevor assume the function of a undercover agent. In 2024, actor Steven Ogg stated Rockstar initially deliberate to make a narrative growth centered on his character, Trevor, with it thought to have fallen by the wayside because the developer centered on the money cow that was GTA On-line.
Ogg was joined by Michael actor Ned Luke and Franklin actor Shawn Fonteno in a Questions and Solutions session with Streamily, and the trio make clear what they claimed was scrapped downloadable content material for GTA 5 that starred Trevor as a Federal Investigation Bureau agent.
“Initially they have been gonna do persevering with tales of Michael, Franklin, and Trevor,” Luke stated, and Ogg expanded on his model. “We additionally had that basically cool s**t of — and I overlook if it was DLC, I do not know — however the place Trevor was gonna be undercover, he works for the FEDs,” Ogg stated. “And we did shoot a few of that stuff with James Bond Trevor. He is nonetheless form of a f**okay up however he is doing his greatest. And we shot some stuff after which it simply disappeared they usually by no means adopted up on it.”
Additionally in 2024, Joe Robino, who was a senior digicam artist and digital cinematographer working at Rockstar’s New York workplace from 2010 to 2016, spoke to the SanInPlay YouTube channel about why the GTA 5 story DLC was canceled.
“Lots of the workforce went to do Purple Lifeless Redemption 2 immediately and I took on this different challenge that was a standalone DLC for GTA that by no means got here out and it was kick ass,” Robino revealed.
“That was my factor. I used to be one of many primary editors, digicam artists, and on-stage stuff. We cut up our groups into two. I stayed on GTA On-line after which this DLC, which Steven Ogg [the actor who played Trevor Philips] was a vital a part of.
“After which a number of the workforce overlapped and went to RDR2 early on, after which we simply form of did this [flipped motion], as a result of when that sport received shelved, we spent a lot cash… a whole lot of that stuff although did find yourself making it I consider into later iterations of GTA On-line, I feel. So it’s not like they wasted it.
“It was actually actually good. However when GTA On-line got here out it was a lot of a money cow and other people have been loving it a lot that it was arduous to make an argument {that a} standalone DLC would outcompete that. I feel wanting again now you would in all probability do each. However that was a enterprise choice they made. I used to be just a little upset about that.
“That really was a whole lot of the rationale for me being just a little bitter at the moment. As a result of I used to be like yo, WTF guys? This s**t’s superior. Let’s preserve going. Let’s end this s**t.”
Each Movie star in GTA 5 and GTA On-line
Followers have had snippets of details about GTA 5’s fabled story DLC over time. GTA dataminers have additionally found a reference to Trevor with a jetpack, which suggests story mode DLC was repurposed into GTA On-line, as Robino stated. In 2018, Rockstar lastly unveiled GTA On-line’s Doomsday Heist missions alongside the Thruster jetpack.
Final 12 months, talking on the Lex Fridman podcast, Rockstar Video games co-founder and former lead author Dan Houser addressed the DLC for the primary time, insisting that if the developer had continued with it, it wouldn’t have been capable of make 2018’s Purple Lifeless Redemption 2.
“The web is aware of we made a DLC… single-player DLC for GTA 5 that by no means got here out,” Houser stated.
“It was one while you performed as Trevor, however he was a undercover agent. It was cute. It by no means fairly got here collectively, and it was by no means completed. It was about half carried out when it received deserted. However I feel if that had come out, we in all probability wouldn’t have gotten to make Purple Lifeless 2. So, there are all the time compromises.”
What method will Rockstar take with GTA 6? Will it return to story DLC, or deal with no matter new model of GTA On-line it has up its sleeve? Some suppose Rockstar will finally add a number of cities, together with Liberty Metropolis, to GTA 6, alongside GTA On-line 2 or regardless of the multiplayer mode finally ends up being known as. For now, although, it’s a case of what may need been for GTA 5.
Final week, as a part of the continuing employment tribunal to find out the destiny of the 31 GTA 6 builders Rockstar fired final 12 months, the corporate revealed the intense lengths it goes to in an effort to stop safety breaches.
Rockstar has suffered a string of high-profile leaks over time, most not too long ago the ‘CyberLeek’ incident which noticed GTA 6 gameplay hit the web forward of the sport’s Netflix particular. Talking on the tribunal, Rockstar stated it is beneath intense scrutiny because the developer of GTA.
“Guarding the secrets and techniques of the distinctive gameplay and design are akin to Apple defending the iPhone or Coke defending its components,” Rockstar stated, including that it adopts “the safety posture of a Wall Avenue financial institution.”
In April 2025, Rockstar dismissed an worker in Lincoln, UK, who it alleged disclosed confidential details about GTA 6 to a 3rd social gathering who then revealed the knowledge to social media. Rockstar dismissed an worker within the U.S. in November 2023 and one other in India in November 2025 for 2 separate acts of knowledge leaking.
Rockstar identified the frequency of espresso store journeys by staff and pizza deliveries to the Rockstar workplaces have been monitored by followers, and site visitors volumes by its workplaces have been allegedly tracked in a bid to get an inside observe on the GTA 6 launch date.
Wesley Yin-Poole
Director, Information
Wesley is Director, Information at IGN. Discover him on Twitter at @wyp100. You possibly can attain Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
