
It appears ISPs are contacting users alleged to have downloaded a stolen build of Marvel’s Wolverine. The upcoming PS5 exclusive featured in terabytes of data taken from developer Insomniac Games’ servers, and it would seem an early playable build of the anticipated superhero outing is now being illegally passed around.
A DMCA notice being shared on social media suggests ISPs like Comcast, presumably at the behest of Sony, are clamping down. “We remind you that use of our service in any manner that constitutes an infringement of copyrighted work is a violation of Comcast’s DMCA policy and may result in the suspension or termination of your service and account,” the message reads.
It doesn’t seem like there’s any punishment, although the recipients are encouraged to delete the offending files, which in this case is the Marvel’s Wolverine executable. In a statement earlier today, Insomniac Games said that it found the entire week “incredibly distressing” but remains “resilient” and will continue to develop its game as planned.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 40
Just use a VPN. They are very affordable.
@DonkeyFantasy well deserved. Here's hoping to more similar punishments.
@KonstantTrouble or, you know, don't download it.
Yeah there's comments from people over on IGN and YouTube who say they've downloaded it anyway because they can't be prosecuted and instead just get a warning letter from their ISP. It doesn't seem to be the full game though and is far from complete.
Working at one of Canada's largest ISPs I can say that it's rarely ever the ISP that initiates this stuff. Usually the copyright holder tracks the IP address to the ISP, issues a warning that one of their customers is downloading copyrighted material and the ISP issues a warning to the customer. The ISP has no interest in punishing the customer unless the copyright holder pursues it and punishes the ISP.
@KonstantTrouble why would you want to play an unpolished alpha version of a game ?
@naruball Not sure a life sentence is 'well deserved' for this particular crime. Guy could have beaten someone half to death and gotten less.
Not to say there should be no repercussions, but the actual harm caused by this crime is essentially zero. GTA6 is still going to sell like crazy, the leak did no harm whatsoever to the IP or the ability to profit from the product. This is a corporation grinding a (not morally upstanding, but also mentally challenged) person to dust for daring to give them a pin prick.
Why would you care playing something that's not even finished... Wow there are all kinds of human beings in the world.
@TheArt Humans are inquisitive by nature. We want to be involved, play and test things, be able to give our own opinions and feedback. Some like yourself just lack that basic trait.
This is why the game industry needs to be more open about things and not so secretive about everything. Keeping people out of the loop for years on end.
@AverageGamer
I disagree strongly. And I think if you were one of the devs and someone stole your work and gave it to the whole world in an unfinished state…well…you would be a little upset. Heck, I won’t even let people read over my shoulder as I draft a simple email. C’mon now…
All these people talking about "why would you want to play an unfinished game?".... have you ever been curious about how the things you enjoy are made? There's 32 whole ass seasons of the How it's Made TV series. I'd love to see what the scaffolding of a game looks like bare showing all it's imperfections and unfinished parts. Just out of pure curiosity and interest. As far as ISPs doing anything, while I don't think the hack was right and most importantly the personal information released was wrong, they should have zero authority to do anything about it and shouldn't be looking at what you're doing anyway. They are no different than phone companies who cannot just cut off your service just because they don't like what you say or are using it to do something illegal. This is a rights and privacy issue, the root of which has nothing to do with games. The email contacting these people about their downloads itself is a gross violation of privacy because they had to monitor what you're doing online to even know.
@koverby No one is saying the hack was right or that those effected shouldn't be pissed. Just that there are plenty of people who are curious that just want to see under the hood and it's not a sign they endorse the hack. If someone wants to look and possible ruin the game for themselves what does that matter to you? Be mad at the hackers sure, but the others that had nothing to do with it who simply are looking at what is publicly available deserve no animosity or shame.
@AverageGamer Because it's pointless, because everyone has their own opinion and it's never good enough to satisfy everyone. Like, a painter isn't going to showcase their work every few strokes so that you can give an opinion on the update. Or a cook isn't going to let you taste every step when making your food. It's just a stupid idea.
Nah.
I think it's been proven that people cannot handle being told everything about a game while it's being built - they will gripe at "promised" features being dropped, at work-in-progress graphics being poor quality, and that the game is too much like something else or not close enough to the same thing. They will complain every time a release date slips.
Sure, record your developer diary and all the details of how you made everything - and release it with or after the game. But don't let people in on the creative and practical decisions being made as you go - we've already seen people can't handle it.
@twitchtvpat I would not. But if you are going to do stuff like this be safe. I would not sleep with dozens of women of the night but if you do wear a jimmy.
@Vega37
…except what you’re saying is not what the person I replied to said at all. Like, not even close.
Also, you said “but the others that had nothing to do with it who simply are looking at what is publicly available deserve no animosity or shame.” I don’t consider IP that was stolen by hackers “publicly available.” Just let creative people do their work and show us whenever they’re ready.
@AverageGamer How's being extremely inquisitive a basic trait... you're laughable. I wouldn't even want to play GTA6 in its state now because I know that wouldn't be what the dev intended, totally useless.
@Octane You say it pointless. But the biggest title this year is BG3 was an early access title, and massively credit a lot of their success to that. Most of biggest impact on gaming culture continues to be early access titles like Lethal Company.
@RobN The difference is being straight forward. Stop putting up fake builds running on high end PC, and stopping letting marketing team control how you present the game. The issue is that developers like to over sell. Set realistic expectations and we won’t have that issue.
@TheArt You think man learned how to cook with fire by waiting and seeing. You think man learned that the milk from a cow teat was drinkable by waiting and seeing. Viking raiding England. A boy looking through their father stash of magazines. The society we have now is because of us being extremely inquisitive.
@koverby "And I think if you were one of the devs and someone stole your work and gave it to the whole world in an unfinished state…well…you would be a little upset"
I would be upset at the person who did. But I will not fault the people who take advantage of situation and let their curiosity get the better of them.
But like Vegra37 said, I'm not saying the hack was right or that those effected shouldn't be pissed. Just don't surprised when humans do something.
"Heck, I won’t even let people read over my shoulder as I draft a simple email. C’mon now…"
That really just sounds like a you problem and sounds like some sort of insecurity.
@Mince I mean... You're welcome look at my take however you want. People are opened to their own opinions. That what make us human.
People wouldn't be impatience if they weren't curious tho.
Don't know what donner meat is...
Remember playing Doom 3 Alpha, it was bugged as hell but it was still impressive. Don't think this will hurt sales, but it is devastating to have story and early stages leaked
@Vega37 pretty sure this is sony asking the providers to to this , because there wouldn't be a any other reason for them to do this. also when you are using their service you know nothing is private right? its the same when people downloaded music and were found out that way then music companies went after isp's.
Removed - inappropriate language
@AverageGamer
Maybe just learn to wait and enjoy something there is so much play. It sometimes looks like the generation of people think you are owed something and have no patience learn to enjoy something.
These people do their work and when they think it's ready to show something they will show it. Your reaction looks a big form of entitlement. In end it will make the game take longer to be completed.
They made it even worse when they put peoples personal information online and you make it look like it's the fault of the developers somehow.
Whats your next idea saying that writers should make their manuscript available because you can't wait.
I skimmed this thread and there are some downright criminal opinions in here.
To express a desire to illegally obtain stolen data is reprehensible.
I hope the 'ignore' button works. I never want to hear from them again.
@Flaming_Kaiser Guy's hilarious. By his logic, he would even scale his neighbour's fence just to check what their hiding because inquisitivity is his basic trait, and then blame the neighbors for being so secretive. 😂
@naruball Don't know, he's 18, so basically still a kid and autistic, don't think he deserves a harsh judgement for that GTA leak. If however, lifetime hospital means he receives government funded healthcare, that might not be such a bad deal in americuuuh.
@Vega37 it’s still copyright protected material. You may be curious, but it doesn’t entitle you to access illegally acquired information. And it’s a crime. Will you get punished? Surely not.
But people seem to act like it’s free for all since it’s been posted to the internet. But it’s both legally and morally wrong, whatever excuse you make up.
Wonder how many ppl with dynamic IPs, VPN etc are missed by this. And which ISPs don't even care about it.
@naruball "Very well deserved" for interfering with your video game. People with your mentality should be given life in hospital, there's something clearly wrong with you.
@Vega37 No curiosity allowed! Only punishments for those who violate the sacred vibeo gemes!
Some of the commenters here justifying hacking is just abysmal!. Get a life sad acts
@TheArt agreed! Their owed everything that's how they think atleast! Look at all the stealing that's going on in the stores in person their sure not going to care about a developers hard work.
Bit unsure how downloading unfinished illegally distributed material makes for an engaging day, but I guess it takes all sorts.
I’ve never been that bored with my life, or the things in it, to look at everything I’ve obtained legally, or the outside away from tech and thought “you know what, stuff those films, TV, games, life, socialising I have on my list of to do’s!”
“Because instead I’m going to prioritise downloading something illegally, that isn’t mine, I didn’t contribute to, nor will I impact and nor will it show me the final intended product”
“Yes, that’ll be a good way to spend my time”
I mean seriously, I’m not even joking when I say you can really tell who has sex and who doesn’t in the comments section.
Put this much effort into making money and finding someone awesome and leaks like this will be the last thing on your mind.
Or not. Either way. Just wow.
On a related but positive note, it seems Insomniac as a whole is okay as far as staff safety and what not from all of this. So that’s something good for Christmas out of it all, for now their lives haven’t been put at risk due to the data leaks on their identities etc.
Hackers like this are such little cretins. Why would anyone want a half finished Wolverine game?
If you’re going to hack, do something meaningful to society like Snowden or Assange.
@naruball There are people who literally get away with crimes against children, this guy messes with a big company qnd has to spend the rest of his life in hospital 🤔 doesn't seem well deserved today to me when they could easily put his skills to use
@koverby See the problem is, it is publicly available. You know what that means right? How it came to be publicly available is irrelevant to someone's desire to see it. You act like it's impossible to separate the two. Like I said no one should be happy about it, it's not like I am... but to act like those who are interested are somehow even close to as culpable as the hackers themselves is ridiculous.
@twitchtvpat Like how it was a massive scandal when it was confirmed the govt listens to all your phone calls and emails? You mean we shouldn't expect privacy? How Orwellian of you
@Mince Comparing life and death starvation to some people checking out leaked information... yea makes complete sense 😑
@EfYI "illegally obtain stolen data" 😂 ok, what's illegal about downloading something publicly available? And if it's illegal what law will they use to prosecute those who downloaded it from public websites? Here's a hint, there isn't one.
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