In late November 2025, a rare authenticated leak of Grand Theft Auto VI (GTA VI) footage surfaced online when a personal animation demo reel belonging to a former Rockstar Games senior animator was discovered on Vimeo. Unlike the wave of AI-generated fake trailers that had plagued the GTA community throughout the year, this leak was widely accepted by both fans and games journalists as genuine, owing to its origin, technical fidelity, and consistency with previously released Rockstar marketing material. The reel, attributed to long-serving Rockstar character animator Benjamin "Ben" Chue, contained approximately nineteen seconds of unmistakable GTA VI motion-capture footage embedded among demonstration clips from earlier titles such as Grand Theft Auto IV, Grand Theft Auto V, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Max Payne 3 (Screen Rant, 2025; The Gamer, 2025).
Benjamin Chue is a credited Rockstar Games character animator with roughly twenty-five years of industry experience and contributions to the company's flagship franchises. Following his departure from Rockstar, Chue uploaded a portfolio demo reel to Vimeo — a standard professional practice for animators seeking new employment — apparently without anticipating that proprietary GTA VI material would attract intense scrutiny (GTA BOOM, 2025). According to reporting from GTA BOOM, the reel had been publicly accessible on Vimeo for approximately two months before the gaming community discovered it, with the footage initially surfacing through Reddit's r/GamingLeaksAndRumours subreddit before spreading across X (formerly Twitter) and mainstream gaming press (The Gamer, 2025).
The GTA VI segments of the reel are brief but information-dense. Analysts and outlets identified two principal clips:
Outlets noted the footage's authenticity markers: characters, vehicle models, and environmental assets do not match any other Rockstar title; the lighting and shader work align with the second official GTA VI trailer; and the mo-cap data is presented in a raw, in-engine state rather than the polished cinematic render typical of fakes (HotHardware, 2025; Notebookcheck, 2025).
The discovery prompted three intersecting reactions. First, the GTA community celebrated the leak as a rare instance of verifiable new material in a year dominated by AI-generated fakes — HotHardware explicitly framed the headline around the fact that "this time it's not AI" (HotHardware, 2025). Second, the leak intensified scrutiny of departing developer portfolio practices, with commentators noting that Rockstar's notoriously strict NDAs typically prohibit such material, raising questions about whether the clips were cleared, overlooked, or constituted an inadvertent breach (Dot Esports, 2025). Third, the leak revived feature-level discussion ahead of the title's revised Fall 2026 release window, with bicycles in particular generating speculation about traversal mechanics and stamina systems (Metro, 2025).
Shortly after the leak began circulating, the Vimeo account hosting the reel was set to private, though mirrors and screen-captured clips had already proliferated across X and Reddit (Dot Esports, 2025).
The Demo Reel Discovery of 2025 stands out within the GTA VI leak chronology because, unlike the 2022 Lapsus$ source-code-and-clip breach, this was an unintentional, self-published, post-employment exposure. It illustrates a persistent vulnerability in AAA development pipelines: even rigorously controlled studios cannot fully police the personal portfolios of former staff, and short clips of in-development animation can carry meaningful feature confirmations. For Rockstar, the episode is a minor information-security embarrassment; for the community, it provided one of the few genuine pieces of new GTA VI footage in 2025.
Dot Esports (2025) Alleged former Rockstar employee's demo reel 'leaks' GTA VI animations. Available at: https://dotesports.com/gta/news/gta-vi-former-employee-leak (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
GTA BOOM (2025) GTA 6 gameplay was sitting on Vimeo for two months, and no one noticed. Available at: https://www.gtaboom.com/former-gta-6-developer-leaks-game-footage-in-his-own-portfolio-2be6 (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
HotHardware (2025) GTA 6 demo footage leaked by ex-Rockstar animator and this time it's not AI. Available at: https://hothardware.com/news/gta-6-animation-demo-leak (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Metro (2025) GTA 6 footage leaked by former Rockstar Games employee confirms new feature. Available at: https://metro.co.uk/2025/12/01/gta-6-footage-leaked-former-rockstar-employee-confirms-new-feature-25028408/ (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Notebookcheck (2025) Rare authentic GTA 6 leak shows demo footage released by former Rockstar Games animator. Available at: https://www.notebookcheck.net/Rare-authentic-GTA-6-leak-shows-demo-footage-released-by-former-Rockstar-Games-animator.1174229.0.html (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
PCQuest (2025) GTA 6 footage leaked in Rockstar's former animator demo reel and it's real. Available at: https://www.pcquest.com/gaming/gta-6-footage-leaked-in-rockstars-former-animator-demo-reel-and-its-real-10827215 (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
Screen Rant (2025) GTA 6 gameplay leak: former Rockstar animator shares demo reel. Available at: https://screenrant.com/gta-6-rockstar-former-dev-leak-demo-reel/ (Accessed: 14 May 2026).
The Gamer (2025) Grand Theft Auto 6 concept footage included in leaked employee demo reel. Available at: https://www.thegamer.com/grand-theft-auto-6-rockstar-games-demo-real-concept-leaks/ (Accessed: 14 May 2026).