August 25, 2010 by Alexei M
The build up to the release of hotly-anticipated games mark out the large gaming corporations in press and media avenues as the main players. Organisations release details of the games due to be launched to create interest prior to the applications being made available for purchase. If a product is leaked online before a game is released, it can cause significant issues for the manufacturer. Lost revenue, negative pre-launch publicity and illegal downloading can have an adverse impact on sales of leaked games.
Microsoft are the latest victim of an illegal launch of their most hotly-anticipated Xbox game, three weeks ahead of its official release. The game was scheduled to be launched in mid-September, but instead appeared on files including The Pirate Bay recently. Halo Reach, a shooting game, has now been downloaded hundreds of times despite not being released yet.
According to reports, the game was offered before launch to a number of reviewers and journalists, on the Microsoft Xbox store online. A spokesperson from Microsoft has commented: “We are still investigating details surrounding a claimed leak of Halo Reach and have nothing further to share.”
Shots of the new game were uploaded to YouTube just hours after being made available on the Microsoft site.
Within hours of being available, videos of the game began to appear on YouTube. The director of policy and enforcement for Xbox commented: “People attempting to play unauthorised copies of Halo Reach could face similar sanctions. As with all unauthorised play on Xbox Live, anyone playing any unauthorised title runs the risk of account permaban. Remember, legit store-bought copy runs no risk of ban. Key word: unauthorised. We have ways of knowing.”
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