Leaks have been a common issue for developers ever since the internet era was initiated, and while a pain, it usually isn’t punished legally to leak footage of a game. However, this case is a bit special as the leaker in question, during his video reviewing Starfield, admitted to stealing copies of the game from the warehouse he worked in.
29-year-old Darin Harris was arrested on August 24 on felony charges of theft, a misdemeanor charge of theft, and a charge of possession of marijuana. He originally put up a video of him playing the game, but as expected, this was initially heavily critiqued by fans, prompting Harris to issue a response. Said response had him apologize to Todd Howard before saying, “That’s a good game y’all don’t want to miss it.” Not long after his response, copies of the game started appearing on the online retailer Mercari.
Of course, people were skeptical that copies were actually going to arrive until another video of Harris shipping out games and other pictures with more copies of the game in the background. Clearly, this was real enough for the Shelby County Sheriff’s office to find and arrest him. Harris is currently out on bail, and it is currently unclear what other repercussions he could face for attempting to sell the game, but it is an exceptional case in the world of leakers.
Starfield will officially launch on September 6 on PC and Xbox Series X|S, with preorders allowing the game to start on September 1.
