Take-Two has stopped simply removing the leaked GTA 6 footage — it's now going to federal court to find out who posted it. On August 20, Take-Two Interactive filed DMCA subpoenas in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, demanding that Microsoft and Discord hand over account records tied to "Cyberleek," the persona behind the wave of GTA 6 gameplay leaks that began on August 18. A judge granted both requests the following day. This is the most aggressive legal move Take-Two has made since the 2022 breach, and it lands just a week before Rockstar's own Netflix Extended Look premiere on August 27.
From DMCA Takedowns to Federal Subpoenas
For the first two days after the leak, Take-Two's response looked like routine copyright enforcement — pulling clips off X, Streamable, and YouTube as fast as they appeared. That changed on August 20, when the company's counsel, Kirkland & Ellis attorneys Dale Cendali and Joshua Simmons, filed two separate DMCA subpoena petitions with the Southern District of New York. Take-Two submitted a sworn declaration stating the subpoenas exist for one purpose: identifying the alleged infringer or infringers behind the Cyberleek material, so the company can protect its copyright. The petitions describe the copyrighted material at stake broadly, covering audiovisual content, artwork, images, and dialogue from the unreleased game.
A DMCA subpoena is a narrower legal tool than a lawsuit. It doesn't accuse Microsoft or Discord of wrongdoing — it simply compels them, under federal copyright law, to produce identifying records about accounts believed to be connected to infringement. That's a much faster process than filing suit against an unknown defendant, and it explains why Take-Two could go from takedown notices to a granted court order in roughly 48 hours.
What Take-Two Wants From Microsoft
The Microsoft subpoena asks for the company's own internal investigative records tied to the Cyberleek persona, since Microsoft — through Xbox and GitHub, where some leaked material was reportedly hosted — had apparently already been looking into the leak on its own. Beyond that, Take-Two is requesting, for any account linked to Cyberleek:
- Account IDs and registration emails
- Registration and last-login IP addresses
- Phone numbers and linked Google or Xbox accounts
- Device identifiers, including the Windows MachineGuid and Microsoft account (MSA) ID
- OneDrive content referencing GTA, Rockstar, or Cyberleek
The MachineGuid request stands out to security-focused outlets because that identifier is tied to a specific Windows installation and typically stays stable even if other hardware changes. If Cyberleek signed into a Microsoft account from the same machine used to capture or play the leaked build, that data could plausibly connect an anonymous account back to a real device.
What Take-Two Wants From Discord
The Discord subpoena casts a wider net. Rather than targeting one account, it asks for identifying information on every user who was a member of, or communicated in, a specific list of servers between June 1, 2026, and the present. The named servers and handles include Cyberleek, CinematicRockstar, Surfer24k, and a Discord community called Ødyssey.gg, which the Microsoft filing separately describes as a cheat-focused server. For each matching account, Take-Two is seeking registration emails, IP addresses, phone numbers, linked platform connections, and device identifiers.
A Court-Ordered September 4 Deadline
Both companies were given until September 4, 2026, to comply. Discord told reporters it routinely reviews and complies with valid DMCA subpoenas, which is standard practice for platforms of its size. Microsoft hasn't fought the request either — Xbox CTO Scott Van Vliet posted on X that the company is working closely with Take-Two and Rockstar Games to support efforts to protect their creative work and intellectual property. Multiple outlets reported that the court had granted both subpoenas by the Friday after they were filed, meaning the September 4 window is now a binding deadline rather than a request.
The DarkViperAU Wrinkle
One name in the Discord filing has nothing obvious to do with leaking anything: Matthew "DarkViperAU" Judge, an Australian GTA content creator whose Discord server was listed among those covered by the subpoena. Judge said publicly that Rockstar has never contacted him directly and that he doesn't know why his server was named, adding that his best guess is Cyberleek may have simply been a member of it at some point. It's a reminder of how broad these requests are — the subpoena doesn't just target Cyberleek's own accounts, it sweeps in anyone who happened to share a server with them, including people who never leaked anything themselves.
Why This Goes Beyond a Single Leaker
Reporting from Bloomberg's Jason Schreier — whose earlier sourcing helped confirm the original leak was genuine — indicates Rockstar still hadn't identified Cyberleek as of this week and remains focused internally on figuring out how the material got out in the first place, more than three years after the 2022 breach led to stricter security protocols, including the end of remote access for some teams. Multiple reports have also noted that Cyberleek has used the leak's attention to promote a cryptocurrency token, a detail that has led outlets like Stop Killing Games to publicly distance itself from the group despite an earlier comparison. None of that changes the legal mechanics here: a DMCA subpoena is not an accusation of guilt, and no arrest or criminal charge has been reported in connection with this case.
What This Means Ahead of August 27
None of this affects Rockstar's own marketing plans. The Extended Look still premieres on Netflix on August 27, with outside press getting hands-on time the same day, and GTA 6 remains on track for its November 19, 2026 release on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. What the subpoenas do change is the leak's trajectory: if Microsoft and Discord comply by September 4, Take-Two will have real identifying data to work with, and whether that leads to a civil suit, a criminal referral, or nothing further at all is something GTA6ERA will continue tracking. Our countdown timer and news feed will reflect anything official the moment Rockstar or Take-Two comment beyond the court filings.
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