A source at the company revealed to Ars Technica that copies of the highly anticipated open world shooter were lifted by three employees, who were later fired in the same 24-hour period. The tipster noted that such theft is not typical.

"When we have a [big name release], we communicate it to operations and security teams. We have security in place at the facilities, and we make sure they understand to keep an eye out for things to exit the building," the source claimed. "We had tips from people inside, and some of them were discovered at intermediate hubs... it's easy to spot: flaps torn, some boxes are re-taped."

The source added that the thieves stole single copies for personal use, rather than entire boxes for pre-release sale at hefty markups. Finding those responsible for the theft was made easy by the company's loss-prevention measures.

"As long as the people loading the packages are doing their jobs, it's easy to track down," the employee stated. "It's kind of funny, isn't it? It's a game about theft, and people are stealing it, and I get to terminate them."

The theft marks Grand Theft Auto IV as the latest game stolen en route to retailers, with a shipment of over 1,000 copies of Harmonix's Rock Band (PS2, PS3, X360) stolen at gunpoint late last year.