Pirates have struck the Normandy again. Just two days before Mass Effect 3 is due to land in shops in the U.S., Electronic Arts’ game has leaked via a number of torrent sites.
Both the Xbox 360 and PC version of the much-anticipated release are now available, although a crack is needed to play the latter. If true, the crack could be a serious financial problem for the company, as Mass Effect 3 is expected to be one of the biggest blockbuster games of the year.
Similar problems plagued the arrival of Mass Effect 2, but Piratebay user Matterman says, “EA has seriously stepped up their game” when dealing with the threat of pirates. Obviously, the publisher still has some way to go.
We’ve contacted EA for a response to this matter, and will update the story when we learn more. It wouldn’t be a surprise if the game were on the torrents already. The same thing has happened to many other games, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 and Call of Duty: Black Ops. However, the pirates often spread the game either through pirated disks, as happened with those previous games, or by sharing them online, as appears to be happening in this case. Those Call of Duty games went on to be bestselling titles. But they probably could have generated even more revenues if they had not been pirated.