Of all the takes about the leak and these days, everyone *has* to have a take, I didn't see anybody reflect on the actual leak itself. Of all the games, short of perhaps the 215th version of your favourite Soviet inspired puzzle game, GTA has to be one of the most pointless games to leak.
Slightly tweaked and occasionally fumbled, the core mechanics of the games have been fairly set in reinforced concrete at least since CJ first fell into a body of water and didn't drown and with the dizzying ways to play GTA Online, I can't imagine what possibly could have ever been leaked that would potentially ruin or spoil GTA in the same way that perhaps a Pokémon roster leak or a LoZ story leak would.
It's interesting to me that it's the idea of the leak and ramifications you've covered above that have all the negative connotations and not necessarily the leak itself that did the damage but then these days we're all hunting for a way to pathologically react to each and every bit of negative 'news'. Let's hope it's not damaged the final work once it comes out (SPOILER you can drive cars in this one).
I am concerned about the consequences for the developers and the IT team
As a developer when this happens the first thing the management tries to do is to pin it on someone, something, anyone so they can begin their goatescaping and fire and yell at the culprit ordo like Pilates and just wash their hands off and always always come out on top and clean because "those muggles don't know what they ere doing and they did an awful job of it"
Sigh
This will continue to happen as the infrastructure to make something like GTA keeps getting a bigger and bigger pipeline.
Hopefully, something will change and everything will eventually make sense.
The GTA leak is bad news. The firing/closures in games media is bad news, even if it means fewer places to report on the other bad news. I think back to the GTA IV tattoo and wonder how damaging the leak is to the schedule Rockstar had planned for the game. I think of friends in the media who are going to be deeply affected by the cutbacks, and how the leak will affect their access to GTA in the future. As you rightly point out, nobody wins here and players suffer as much as everyone else.
Of all the takes about the leak and these days, everyone *has* to have a take, I didn't see anybody reflect on the actual leak itself. Of all the games, short of perhaps the 215th version of your favourite Soviet inspired puzzle game, GTA has to be one of the most pointless games to leak.
Slightly tweaked and occasionally fumbled, the core mechanics of the games have been fairly set in reinforced concrete at least since CJ first fell into a body of water and didn't drown and with the dizzying ways to play GTA Online, I can't imagine what possibly could have ever been leaked that would potentially ruin or spoil GTA in the same way that perhaps a Pokémon roster leak or a LoZ story leak would.
It's interesting to me that it's the idea of the leak and ramifications you've covered above that have all the negative connotations and not necessarily the leak itself that did the damage but then these days we're all hunting for a way to pathologically react to each and every bit of negative 'news'. Let's hope it's not damaged the final work once it comes out (SPOILER you can drive cars in this one).
I am concerned about the consequences for the developers and the IT team
As a developer when this happens the first thing the management tries to do is to pin it on someone, something, anyone so they can begin their goatescaping and fire and yell at the culprit ordo like Pilates and just wash their hands off and always always come out on top and clean because "those muggles don't know what they ere doing and they did an awful job of it"
Sigh
This will continue to happen as the infrastructure to make something like GTA keeps getting a bigger and bigger pipeline.
Hopefully, something will change and everything will eventually make sense.
The GTA leak is bad news. The firing/closures in games media is bad news, even if it means fewer places to report on the other bad news. I think back to the GTA IV tattoo and wonder how damaging the leak is to the schedule Rockstar had planned for the game. I think of friends in the media who are going to be deeply affected by the cutbacks, and how the leak will affect their access to GTA in the future. As you rightly point out, nobody wins here and players suffer as much as everyone else.