Starfield is a burning topic in the world of gaming right now. A Starfield leaker was in full flow to ruin the excitement of other gamers when he posted around the first 45 minutes of gameplay video of the highly-anticipated game on the internet. However, the leaker has now been booked and has also been handed an enormous fine.
The 29-year-old, Darin Harris had stolen the game copies and first posted gameplay videos and then went on to list the game on an e-commerce platform. Though the videos were taken down due to copyright infringement however it had already reached a big online audience.
Starfield Leaker Slapped With a Massive Amount of Fine
Darin Harris was arrested by Shelby County, Tennessee Sheriff’s office on 24th August, four days after he posted the 45-minute-long gameplay video. Sheriff’s Office website details felony charges over $11,000 including possession of stolen property worth $2,500-$10,000, misdemeanor charges worth $1,000 or less for possession of stolen property, and also for possession of marijuana.
The leak went viral on August 22nd and was instantly posted on other social media platforms even after it was taken down from YouTube. A 60-second Starfield clip was also circulated on Imgur that garnered over a million views. However, Harris still had no idea what he was doing and it was illegal. He then went on to post another video and commented on the initial video leak referencing Game Director Todd Howard.
In the video posted, he stated, “Todd, no offense man, that’s a good game. They were saying I play like a beginner cause I’m not a game expert I was just trying something out. That’s a good game y’all don’t want to miss it.”
Leaker listed Starfield Constellation Edition Copies on an E-Commerce Platform
He also listed additional copies of Starfield including the Starfield Constellation Edition complete with a custom-made NASA-punk space watch on the e-commerce platform, Mercari out of which some show as sold while a Starfield Xbox Series X|S shows as Reserved for Chris. Videos of Harris going to FedEx to ship the sold games also surfaced and fans were suggesting it was a scam.
He then uploaded another video and stated, “Y’all thought I’d be out here putting stuff on the internet and it ain’t real, nah baby that ain’t how we do it, that ain’t how we do that,” he said. “Y’all used to playing with little boys.” However, on August 24th, he started deleting all the posts and videos from his social media accounts but then it was already too late and he was ultimately booked.
It’s still unclear if Bethesda, the developer and publisher of the game, or Microsoft made a complaint to the authorities and it might also be that Darin Harris was booked for other reasons completely unrelated to Starfield leaks. Starfield will be released on September 1 for Xbox Series X|S and PC platforms.
Source: Kotaku
