Using or owning a service or product you haven't paid for is wrong and illegal unless the product is distributed for free. Excuses don't change that. If you don't think the product is worth the asking price, don't buy it, and don't steal it. People that do otherwise are parasites who do not deserve to be given the responsibility of freedom.

e-friend

Man they should be freaking thanking them... That first pirated copy that came out was bugged, the famous Jerusalem bug, not allowing you to get past about 1/4th of the game. That probably boosted sales more then it dropped.

And btw, coming back to Ubisoft.. werent they the ones that said.. "you can't have a demo of AC.. it's too big, it's too free-play.. "... well whoopty-freaking-do. The "piraters" made them a free demo.

As for the whole issue on piracy as a whole... i'll leave that speech for another day.

Cosmitz

I had that lego pirate ship when I was a kid.
My parents bought it for me one Christmas.
...*Sniffle*...
I loved that pirate ship. Even after I lost half the bits.

Sheogorath

Ouch. One has to wonder if that employee made more uploading that Assassin's Creed copy than what losing his job and a potential lawsuit will cost him.

Laho

That picture is so classy!! LOL!!!!

Well that manufacturing company is liable for its personnel, however they probably have insurance for breaches like that. No big deal, except the guy that did it will probably be prosecuted. *Sad lol*

PrivateJ0ker

Piracy is always going to run rampant, but that's not the complete point to why Ubisoft is suing this company. They're suing mostly because a copy was leaked before the release date (Which was against the contract) and suffered "Losses" from it.

Now they want their money back...

paulrules

@Otacon85: lol

Neo-Senku: The World's Finest Pervert

I would hate to be that employee when his (former) boss slaps him a memo saying "You owe me $10 million ***hole."

mfwahwah

@Gantz: Your Trusted Friend in Science.: Of course it will still be pirated, but a full version 6 weeks in advance, from an employee of the company that is supposed to help reduce pirating? They messed up, and now they have to pay up. Nothing wrong with that, even if the pirating was inevitable.

sarcasmOD

@Toasticus: That show is scheduled for 10:15pm. Please make use of the intermission to get your snacks at the counter.

Grive

@Gantz: Your Trusted Friend in Science.: Although it's correct, it wouldn't hold much water.

"Look, I shouldn't be jailed. The house was unlocked. Someone was gonna enter and steal everything anyway!".

While it's true that it's very, very likely that there would be piracy, we
a) can't really know for sure
b) it's impact isn't the same as a leaked final copy before the game hits shelves.

Thus, they're entitled to ask for compensation regarding loss of revenue.

Grive

Has the cliche parade begun already? Nobody puts on a show like self-entitled guilty consciences, I always say. Did I miss the shut up and make a better game float or is that later?

Toasticus

Wow there is really a company called OEM? Maybe they will sue IT Journalists who use OEM to make up for this.

jacka1

"Awww man... that's BOGUS!"

lolz

HykCraft_Returns

@Omniel:

...So you steal a game, knowing that your PC can't run it, and since it's a hacked copy, using any official patches and other support for the game won't be available to you? Where's the logic in that?

That's like a guy going into a Walmart to steal some tampons, and then when he gets caught he tells security "Look, guys, it's totally cool. I wasn't going to use them, I don't even HAVE a vagina."

Otacon85

@MoeB: You're right don't copy that floppy use a CD-R instead.

Stevetrop

@MoeB: "I'm too young for a life of crime!" XD

excaleranth

At least this likely won't affect the next game being released on Steam.

FinalFrog

Steam helps fight piracy, and offers perks* i meant :P

Omniel

Though on a more serious note.
Those people would be pirating the game regardless of if it was leaked before or after the game's actual release. Most games are ripped and pirated day of.

Aside from the whole breach of contract and copyright infringement, I can't see this actually affecting their sales.

Gantz: Your Trusted Friend in Science.

I think this is totally justified. Gamers pirating will always happen. But it coming from the production company, after they specifically swore (and were paid to ensure) that it wouldn't happen, that's worthy of a lawsuit.

BananaKid

How do you think these things get leaked in the first place? Some employee looking for 15 minutes of fame.

Entegy

@hodayathink: I like neo-noir lesbians:

It doesn't, I dont pirate games, I buy all my games, I am saying, with assasins and crysis, people probaly were more inclined to pirate it cause thier PCs wouldnt run it, so they didnt feel like shelling it out, it's wrong, but companies need to change thier methods.

Value and blizzard are good examples, of how to cut back on piracy. Make the customer want to have a legal version, by making it constantly updated, Steam helps piracy, and offers perks to use it.

Omniel

@MoeB: WHATS A FLOPPY??? :( :( :(

Ichidou

Hey, at least Ubi isn't suing their customers. :P

Altersparck

Whatcha gonna do when they come for you, bad-boys bad boys.

Gantz: Your Trusted Friend in Science.

Someone's in trouble.

sir_carrot

@hodayathink: I like neo-noir lesbians: There was actually an editorial on Gamasutra today with that exact same statement.

There are a lot of companies that get hired based on their ability to undermine the pirates, I'm surprised we don't see this type of reaction more often. Of course, most companies that try copy protection on their own don't necessarily have a lot of success either.

nick.soapdish

lulz

ZetaCrossfire

@Omniel: And that makes it okay to pirate because...

hodayathink: I like neo-noir lesbians

Well, if it was an employee that leaked the game early then Ubi should nail their assess to the wall.

MetalGearMax

That kid of indeterminate gender is totally about to eat those Legos.

Nom nom nom.

Toasticus

But, Ubisoft has never given PC a fair shot, they half ass port a game thats needs twice as much PC power than it should.

Omniel

@MoeB: lol, that video is classic.

HykCraft_Returns

the rediculas system specs is probaly a magor cause of piracy for this game.

Omniel

And after this incident, you won't see Ubisoft going back to PC ever again.

HykCraft_Returns

don't copy that floppy bro!

+ Watch video

MoeB

Just because SOMEONE would have pirated it doesn't make it okay to be the one to do it.

Ecks

Yarrrrr! Lawyers be boarding Optical Experts Manufacturing's poopdeck for some skewering, me hearties!

Chef

Another example of the extreme superiority of the Bluray format's security.

Microsoft gets owned, while Sony scoots by with the "extremely better" format.

PrivateJ0ker

Luke, you always pick the perfect image to accompany the story.

goat999

@Otacon85: When reading someone's comments, particularly those you plan on responding to, please remember - comprehension is key.

Also, the photo accompanying this article hurts my feelings.

Stirdy

Games being pirated before they hit shelves (known as 0-day piracy) is becoming increasingly common because of the minimum wagers that have access to the game at these productions facilities.

About time someone did something about it, I say.

What many of you don't understand is that the activation systems that Bioshock and Mass Effect used are largely to prevent 0-day piracy. Trust me, they understand whatever DRM system they use will eventually be cracked, but usually not until after the activation server is up and running because the crackers need to analyze how the game is unlocked. If publishers can prevent it from being cracked until the game is released, that's actually a big deal. 0-day piracy is much more damaging to sales than piracy after a game is released.

If this disc production sourced piracy shit stops, maybe publishers will back off on these less than ideal DRM mechanisms.

Stevedroid

@PrivateJ0ker: What the hell are you talking about? If you're going to fanboy it up (please don't, for the love of basic human intelligence), at least make sure it makes sense in the context of the article.

ShaggE

@Sheogorath: That pirate ship was also one of my favorite lego toys. That and the Lego Space Monorail made some of my happiest birthday memories.

On Topic: The guy who leaked it should be held accountable, although with current labour laws I'm not sure is possible. Tough luck for OEM.

sander_dutch

About time someone started doing this... publishers also need to look to their own in some cases too...

TurtleSoup

Seems odd to give a disc reproduction plant a copy of your game two months before release.

x3sphere

@Otacon85:

More like this: "Man, I've heard that the system specs for this game are pretty rough. I don't know how my computer will run it, and there's no demo available. Since I can't return opened software, the only way to know that I won't be wasting $60 is to pirate it."

PackerX

I highly doubt any losses were actually incurred from this. I know I didn't give enough of a damn about Assassin's Creed to pirate it even though I have more than enough PC to play it. Everyone knows the game was made for XBox 360 (not that I own one) and that the PC port was a half assed pile from the word go. No one I know has the PC version pirated or otherwise.

DimensionWarped

see thats why you go to your FRIEND'S house to upload pirates...

icegoat

the emplyee that uploaded is gonna get screwed

Kartune

@Omniel: lolwut?

Kenny

@x3sphere: It takes time to press all the discs. I thought it was obvious why you see games "going gold" months before the release date. Because it takes time to press the disc, make the box, print manual, sihp to warehouse etc etc.

pot

That sucks, that their game got pirated, and the company getting sued. Then again, I hope it goes through, maybe they'll you know, not violate contract and be a little more careful about that. No telling how much Ubi lost from early UL of it.

Talleh

Wow, I wonder what the employee was thinking? Probably going to have a HARD time getting another job..

exkon

@PackerX: Then you would just the back of the box durr???

vig0r

@vig0r:
oh wow how perfect of my to emulate retardation while forgetting to put the measly verb in. What i meant to say was

Then you would just look at the back of the box,durr
@vig0r:

vig0r

I wonder if they bothered reporting the l33t h4x0r who uploaded the file to the police. It sounds like they'd have a pretty decent case against him. Sucks for OEM however, I know I wouldn't send any business their way after hearing about this.

@Toasticus: How about the always wonderful "I wasn't going to buy it anyway, so it doesn't count as a lost sale"? That's always been my personal favorite.

NateN

@PackerX: You mean you can't just wait a few days after the game comes out and let other people try running it first?

OEM got what they deserved - they were hired to press discs and not let them leak. They let the game leak. Lawsuit justified.

Rebochan

I bet that (ex)employee feels real stupid now :) hahaha. stupid.

karateka

@Stevetrop: CD-R? Welcome to 2001. Piracy is all about torrent these days.

Anaralia

@HykCraft_Returns:

Right, because there's no way a pressing plant could upload an ISO for a console game, it's all a PC problem.

sqlrob

hahaha oops!! Hey is that a Black Seas Barracuda? I wish someone would leak the forthcoming LEGO MMO! I wanna play that!

gloveofpower

@HykCraft_Returns: Yeah, they'll end up blaming pirates instead of themselves for their game sucking.

Rajolae

This is one of / the only kind of case where I will agree with suing over piracy. The company fucked up and one of their employees is a dumbass. Sue the people that are to blame, not people who pirated shit.

Rajolae

@pot: Oh I know, but usually, games aren't sent off to production two months in advance. It's more like three weeks.

x3sphere

Well... just cram it full of Starforce and other crapware until it doesn't run on anything then!

fuchikoma

Well I dont agree with DRM because it only hurts the honest consumer, UBI does have a point here.

Most time it happens like this. At the plant a disk is "bad" that could be anything from warped to the label was offcenter. They toss all these disks into bins to be destroyed and at that point a "pirate" takes the game and uploads it. They dont count the bad disks so nobody is any the wiser about it.

This company promised that wouldnt happen and so long as the contract states that then UBI is owed money without question.

You cant agree to a term and then break it and not expect problems.

parad0x360

That picture is fantastic.

How can there be strife when we have Legos?

anabbeynormality

@MoeB: if only everyone listened to the words of MC dp then we would never have to worry about piracy ever again

headcharge101

someone got fucked.

PsyComa

good for ubi, now if they can just make assasins creed not so repetitive.

EVIL_V2