FollowThe developer of ‘Grand Theft Auto 5” has received a public apology from Sony, after the game was downloaded prematurely from a PlayStation store in the EU. The apology was also extended to fans of the game, which was set to be launched on Sept 17 for both Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
The hackers who downloaded the game were not able to get it up and running but they did get access to video and audio files which had details about the storyline and soundtrack of the new game.
GTA fans, who do not like spoilers, were shocked when they saw details of the much anticipated game being passed on across game forums on the Internet. People on the forum Reddit had even managed to out together a soundtrack for the game, which was almost complete.
The head of communications at Sony Computer Entertainment, Nick Caplin, posted on the official EU PlayStation blog and said that the hackers had legally attained copies of Grand Theft Auto 5 when they took part in a scheme that allowed owners of PlayStation 3 to pre-load games to their units ahead of the official GTA 5 release date.
He also said that it was regrettable that the people who downloaded the pre-order of the game, through the European PlayStation Store got access to the assets of the game, and then went ahead to post these online. The Social Media Manager for PlayStation, Sid Shuman has expressed his apologies, and has said that the pre-order file has since been removed. The developers, R9ckstar, expressed their dismay at seeing spoilers and leaks being posted online, ahead of the much-awaited launch of the game. Many people, all over the world, have spent a lot of time, over several years, in developing the game, and this was a low-blow for them.
One of the forums, Social Club, has been warned by Rockstar that any of their members who will be found discussing the game will have their commenting rights suspended until the game is launched on September 17th. The company is taking a leading role in discouraging people from passing on the spoiler content. However, much is to be seen of the results of this campaign given that the internet has many ways of disseminating information.
A modder from Russia, Yuriy Krovouchko, has said that one cannot run the game, since an encryption key, from Rockstar, is required to get the game running. The key can only be found in the executable file. If the disc for the game were to be leaked, then people would be able to run the game. It is only the opening theme, and the in-game TV advertisements which were leaked. The audio files are from the game’s radio stations.
According to an analyst at Baird Equity Research, Colin Sebastian, GTA5 has the potential to sell up to 20 million copies in Take-Two Interactive’s financial year which will end on 31st March 2014. Many fans are now waiting to see how the leaks will affect the release date of the game GTA 5.
