The 21-day runway
Rockstar gave the premiere a date three weeks out. The leak landed on day 12 and Rockstar stayed silent for the next eight days. That gap is where the month was decided.
- 6 Aug
The clock starts
The Extended Look is dated for 27 August.
- 18 Aug
The footage arrives
Day 12 of 21. CyberLeek publishes unreleased gameplay and the full map.
- 19 to 25 Aug
Silence
Trust falls to 4.5 on 23 August. Negative sentiment reaches 39.5%.
- 26 Aug
Rockstar replies
36,546 new people profiled in a single day.
- 27 Aug
The premiere
Trust reads 6.8.
- 28 Aug
The day after
Trust reaches 7.0, the best reading of the month.
Trust score on Instagram, August 2026
Rockstar's Community Trust Score sat at 5.44 through the quiet build and was still 5.3 when the leak broke on 18 August. It reached its floor of 4.5 on 23 August, the sixth day without a public reply. Negative sentiment climbed from 17.3% before the leak to 39.5% on 23 August. After the premiere trust read 6.8 and then 7.0 on 28 August, closing the month at 5.95.
High-intent actions by window, August 2026
Felton counts reshares, bookmarks and quotes as high-intent actions. August recorded 330,690 of them. The eight-day leak window produced 948 (0.3%) and the six days from Rockstar's statement onward produced 243,214 (73.5%). Per day that is 118 against 40,536, a factor of 342.
Two Instagram audiences, one franchise
Felton profiled 66,546 people on Rockstar's own channel and 8,215 on the third-party leak account. The official channel is led by Millennials (43%) with Excitement as the dominant emotion (46.4%). The leak account is led by Gen Z (49.8%) with Neutral as the dominant emotion (49.4%). During the leak window the leak account's conversation grew 12.6 times while Rockstar's grew 1.1 times.
In the full report
Six figures from the PDF. Three are open; the other three come with the full study.
Method
- Period
- 1 to 31 August 2026
- Channels
- Rockstar Games on Instagram, X and YouTube, plus the largest third-party GTA leak account on Instagram (4 channels).
- Active audience
- 104,439 people profiled across 209 posts (19,358,195 likes; 361,950,063 views). Ten out-of-scope posts (GTA Online, GTA+, Red Dead) were excluded, 1.4% of likes. The study is built on a sample of the conversation.
- Scope
- Emotional and trust analysis is available on Instagram, so the Community Trust Score and sentiment figures describe the Instagram conversation. X and YouTube are measured on reach and value. The leak account is third party and is reported separately throughout.
- Extraction
- Data extracted on September 1, 2026 [11:26] WEST (UTC+1).
Disclaimer. Data was captured by our system on the date and at the times indicated. Profiles, posts, comments and other indicators reflect the information available and accessible at that moment or the sizing of the defined sample, for analysis purposes. They may not correspond to all activity in the period. Removed content, deleted comments, deleted or private accounts and platform API limits are not taken into account. Extractions carried out at different times may produce different values.
Questions
What do True Audience Value and Community Trust Score measure?
True Audience Value calculates the economic value of an audience based on the quality of its engagement. The Community Trust Score scores each interaction from 1 to 10 based on its emotional quality, sentiment and engagement depth. In this study True Audience Value covers the active audience of 104,439 people on the 4 channels and the Community Trust Score describes the Instagram conversation.
Did Rockstar commission this study?
No. Felton ran it independently from public interactions, with no access to or cooperation from Rockstar Games. The leak account in the study is a third-party account.
Which channels and period does the study cover?
Rockstar Games on Instagram, X and YouTube, plus the largest third-party GTA leak account on Instagram, from 1 to 31 August 2026.
Can Felton run this study for my brand?
Yes. Felton Audiences runs the same analysis on any brand from public interactions. to see the platform.
