The gaming leak has become so common in the video game industry these days, and it’s only getting more and more difficult to keep projects under wraps because of them. They can be fun, disastrous, knock a game’s hype off the rails, or pack infinitely more people into a hype train. It’s a fascinating thing that often involves misdirection. Leaks can be true or false, but at minimum, they get people talking.
There have been several throughout gaming history that have started a number of dialogues, and while companies are more careful than ever when it comes to who is allowed to have access to what, we are still seeing that happen with regularity.
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Sometimes it’s the developers themselves that leak the information, and sometimes it’s the fans. We’re going to check out some of the most notable leaks in gaming history.
Spoilers for some games below.
10
Assassin’s Creed II
The True Arrival of an Iconic Series
Assassin’s Creed II is the game that took the series into the upper echelon of the gaming world. It all started with a leak, though. The leak showed off Italy as the brand-new location, and parkour animations that were night and day compared to the first game. Not only that, but Altair was no longer the star of the show, but a new character named Ezio would be the new character.
While most leaks usually get the cold shoulder from the developers, this was the opposite effect. Ubisoft basically said, “Yeah, that’s all true,” and shortly after the leak came the full-on reveal. Unlike another game we’ll talk about next, the protagonist switch wasn’t that big of a deal here. In reality, it took the series narratively to new heights, giving it an iconic character to build on. And build they did, as he’d be the star of the next two games in the series.
Kojima Sets the Stage
It’s 2001, the gaming world is in a transformative period with the release of the PS2. Kojima went and confirmed we’d be playing as Solid Snake in the sequel to the massively acclaimed Metal Gear Solid. Everyone was rightfully hyped, and that hype was confirmed when the demo for Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty was released as a bonus for those who bought Zone of the Enders. The problem is that the little tongue-in-cheek leak by Kojima was at the same time both real and a lie.
Because we would, in fact, be playing as Solid Snake in perhaps the best opening level in gaming history aboard the tanker. However, that would be just a small slice of the game, and Solid Snake would be nothing more than a side character in this journey as the newcomer Raiden would take center stage instead. This was such an incredible controversy at the time and one that seems a bit silly in retrospect, but it shook the gaming world. It also showed companies that they can take major risks and still come away with an absolute classic of a game.
8
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
A Reveal That Set the Tone
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 would be an incredibly important title for the series that had made a massive shift to the modern day with its previous title, and a lot of the surrounding hype came from a leak involving the mission “No Russian.” It was thought to be a hype tactic to drive up intrigue for the game, and not an actual mission we could play through. It seemed way too controversial for the leaks to be true. I mean, slaughtering an airport full of innocents? Who would green-light that?
Well, this was 2009, and there was a ton of edginess in the game world at the time. This might’ve been the tip of the knife when it came to that, and, as we know now, the leak was real, and it marked possibly the most controversial moment in gaming history. It was shocking, and it showed that even a game as massive as Call of Duty can take an outrageous risk for really no real reason, and still come away smelling like roses. It was the beginning of bigger studios taking some ballsy risks that previous years probably wouldn’t have been favorable towards.
7
Grand Theft Auto 6
An Earthshaking Reveal
Grand Theft Auto 6 was one of the better-kept secrets for some time, but that all stopped when gameplay was revealed. Totally against all of Rockstar Games’ wishes, we got an early look at a very early build of the game. To be honest, it was pretty rough. It looked like a generic third-person cover shooter with some decent graphics, but nothing that actually did much to drive the hype of the game.
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The fact that it was released at all was shocking, coming on the heels of the incredible trailer that held the entire world for a period of time. In terms of leaks, Rockstar Games is as foolproof as it gets. It’s the Fort Knox of video games, and still, someone managed to hack the system. It showed that no company is safe from those who want to spoil the fun for the rest of us. If Grand Theft Auto 6 can get leaked, then literally any game can.
6
Half-Life 2
A Leak that Rocked the Company
Half-Life 2 is one of the most important games of all time, but it almost didn’t happen due to leakers. Right before it was set to launch, someone hacked into Valve and released not only gameplay elements and story spoilers, but also the entire source code. That’s a big no-no in this industry, and it wasn’t the build they were going to release in the final version. You could imagine that Valve was absolutely devastated by this.
All the story spoilers would end up being true, but it was the early playable builds that Valve had to pull the plug on. The game was, of course, delayed because of this, leading to constant speculation on whether the leaks were true or not. It honestly makes a lot of sense that Valve has been hesitant to release anything on Half-Life 3. I mean, with possibilities like this, why bother?
A Leak to the Past
In the spring of 2025, leaks about an Oblivion remake started flying around the internet and social media apps. It was a whirlwind, from noted game leakers saying it was real to people claiming it was just AI images and everything in between. It was one of the most fun game leaks I’ve ever seen, and it’s one that the development team seemed to be fully behind as well. There was no gameplay, just little screenshots here and there and breadcrumb trails on game retailers like Steam that suggested the game was on its way.
Then the date came, where the developers themselves said yes, Oblivion Remastered was real. Not only was it real, but it was available…now. It was brilliant, and one of the most “Holy crap” moments in gaming I can remember. The fact that the game shadow dropped out of nowhere was vindication for everyone following the clues for months. Honestly, the buildup and actual announcement of the game kind of overshadowed the fact that the game was pretty much the same as the 2005 version with a shinier coat of paint on top.
But who cares, because it was one of the coolest leaks of all time and one that reminded people how special Bethesda used to be while introducing people to how talented Virtuous really is.
4
Final Fantasy VII
A Shift to a New Age
Final Fantasy, for the entirety of its 2D era, was strictly a Nintendo property. It was a golden goose of sorts for the company, and it seemed like Final Fantasy would follow Nintendo into the next generation. But leaks suggested otherwise. These leaks started and wouldn’t stop, that Final Fantasy 7 would be a Sony PlayStation title. People thought it was impossible. This was Luke Skywalker joining the Dark Side, or Captain America joining Hydra. It was such a wild idea that people thought it was just hearsay to drive up intrigue with the next title in the franchise.
But it was real, and it quite literally changed the gaming world. Final Fantasy 7 exploded onto the gaming scene, with never-before-seen graphic fidelity and a story that introduced a ton of iconic characters and perhaps the most famous video game villain in history. Squaresoft’s switch to the PlayStation was a risky move, but one that paid off endlessly, as the high-powered PlayStation allowed the series to flourish in a way it never had previously. It established the JRPG in a way it had never seen, and Final Fantasy became a name beyond gaming, and one that would ring through the years as one of the biggest franchises of all time.
The Leak that Opened the World
In a unique twist here, the original leaks from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion were not due to a hack, or an unruly employee, but rather the retailers instead. Yes, believe it or not, games used to be sold in person! What a time in the world where we had to physically wait for these amazing games to come home with us. In this situation, Bethesda hadn’t even announced the game yet, and still, Oblivion started popping up on store websites.
For context, Bethesda was nowhere near the behemoth it is today, as Morrowind was only a medium-sized hit, and Fallout 3 wouldn’t be released for another two years at this point. Shortly after this leak, Bethesda confirmed it and revealed a game that quite simply changed everything. It was the first “Wow” moment I had when it came to video games in many ways. I’d been around from the jump from Nintendo to PS1 to PS2, but this was different. An entire world was suddenly able to be explored. And most importantly (and this is where Morrowind failed), it was beyond stunning to look at. It was a landmark moment for the Xbox 360 and one that won’t be forgotten any time soon.
2
Halo 2
Spoiling the Chief’s Mission
Halo 2 is one of the earliest examples of a game having its entire story spoiled before it even came out. This caused absolute chaos in the gaming industry, and it happened because a French copy of the game hit the streets before the release date. This is one of the first times I ever realized that some places get games earlier than others. Bungie leaned into it to their credit, telling everyone that the game copy that got out was real and that spoilers were everywhere.
This included the fact that you’d be playing as two characters throughout the Halo 2 story, as well as how expansive the multiplayer was compared to the first game. While Halo is still a massive property, back in 2004, it was pretty much the game in the industry. It was a shock to the gaming world, but this was pre-social media.
There was no Twitter, there were no suggested articles by Google, there were no smartphones. You were pretty much safe if you stayed off your computer for a few days. Luckily, most people listened to Bungie and the game was released to over-the-top acclaim, improving the game in every way from the first game and a better story as well, which was all 100% true according to the leaks.
1
The Last of Us Part II
The Leak that Sank the Name
In 2020, there wasn’t a lot to look forward to. The world was fighting a virus of its own, and coincidentally, The Last of Us Part II was set to release as well. We were all cooped up in our respective homes, so to say the least, we needed to hear about this game. That was, until the leaks started. In particular, the big, soul-crushing twist that was spoiled for darn near anyone who got near a Reddit thread. Joel would be killed off, and he was barely even playable in the game.
It was so shocking that people didn’t believe it, and yet, that was the unfortunate reality that the game would present. While some still loved the game, others were utterly disgusted, seeing the main character of the first game erased within the opening hours of a title that had been waited on for 8 years. It led to one of the most controversial big releases in recent memory. It was completely polarizing, with entire legions of fans swearing their love for it and the other half pretending the game didn’t even exist. It was a landmark moment that all started with a leak.
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