Microsoft Investigates Halo 2 Leak

Publisher outraged as final Halo 2 code leaks onto the Net, with the company promising a full investigation. Full report.

Following last week's sushi-fuelled party at Bungie studios to celebrate the completion of Halo 2 - without question the biggest Xbox game ever - it seems the team will be downing booze for a different reason this morning as news emerges of a full-scale Halo 2 leak.

In the latest instance of increasingly common industry trend that saw titles like Doom 3, Half-Life 2 and OutRun2 all available for download in some form before their street dates, reports emerged last night that a full PAL version of one of this year's biggest games is available to downloaders.

With almost a month until the game's US and European launches on the 9th and 11th November respectively, the leak is devastating news for the publisher and is likely to cause some embarrassment.

But Microsoft responded swiftly by slamming those who have leaked the code and anyone who illegally downloads it, branding them all "thieves". The Redmond, Washington giant issued a statement that reads:

Illegal downloaders can forget about lovely packaging!

"Microsoft has learned that a version of Halo 2 has been posted to various newsgroups and web sites. We consider downloading this code or making it available for others to download as theft. We are currently investigating the source of this leak with the appropriate authorities. Pending the result of our investigation, we do not have further comment.

"Microsoft takes the integrity of its intellectual property extremely seriously, and we are aggressively pursuing the source of this illegal act. The launch of Halo 2 worldwide remains unaffected. We're asking anyone with information on the source of this leak to contact Microsoft at 1-800-RULEGIT or send email to piracy@microsoft.com."

In our view, estimates in the past about lost revenues resulting from leaks like these are wildly exaggerated, given close-to-forecast sales of titles like Doom 3 and the fact that many who downloaded the game either bought the final retail version or would never have bought it anyway.

Additionally the impact of the Halo 2 leak is likely to be softened by the fact that only modded Xbox owners will be able to play it, as well as the consideration that Xbox Live play will not work on such machines. What's more, fans looking forward to Master Chief's massive adventure will probably not be convinced by a version that's reportedly in French language and doesn't come with a sexy collector's edition aluminium tin. Oh, and it would take a while to download the file, which is reportedly in the region of three gigabytes.

We'll let you know how Microsoft fares in its investigation as details become available.

Adam Doree
Director, Kikizo.com