MW3 Heist: Will The DRM Help? (Updated)

[qubit]

By now, many people may have heard of the Modern Warfare 3 heist in Créteil, south Paris, France over the weekend. This was executed by staging a collision between a car and the delivery truck, carrying 6000 physical copies, worth around 400,000 Euros. When the truck driver and his colleague got out of the truck to deal with the incident, two masked criminals then stole the truck by subduing them with teargas. There's no word on whether the truck's drivers were injured in the attack. A nasty little incident for sure for the hardworking staff, but thankfully nothing more dangerous was used.

It's not clear which gaming platform the copies were intended for, or if it was a mixture of all three. However, for the Steam platform at least, the only important thing in the box is the activation code which must authenticate over the internet with Steam's servers, so without this, the game is useless. On top of that, the disc isn't actually needed to install the game as the whole lot can be downloaded over the internet. So was there a batch number tied to the shipment and all the activation codes within the boxes. If so, it would be a simple matter for Steam to blacklist all 6000 activation codes. Note that while doing this would prevent anyone from playing those stolen copies, it likely wouldn't stop criminals from fencing those to unsuspecting buyers (or not so unsuspecting buyers) either in person or online on sites like eBay. Therefore, flogging dead copies is unfortunately not necessarily a barrier to profit for them. With a bit of luck though, they might cheese off the wrong people who might just pay them a little visit later and sort them out, no police required...

UPDATE

Techdirt has a great, sarcastic take on this story in Old Fashioned 'Pirates' Steal 6,000 Copies Of The New Call Of Duty Game. Here's a couple of excerpts:

In this day and age of digital goods, where the waters are constantly muddied by the use of phrases like "stealing" or "content theft" in place of "copying" or "infringement," it's refreshing to see a youthful group of go-getters shaming their basement-dwelling peers by leaving the house and, you know, actually stealing something.

And:

While stealing physical product would seem to be completely redundant in this age of "epidemic level" piracy, there's something to be said about putting in a dishonest day's work. Of course, these stolen goods will likely be useless, considering Activision will likely have already pinned down the serial numbers affected by the time Jean Q. Publique has purchased his copy via LeBay or whatever. While pirating in the physical realm allows you to wear kickass hoods and toss around tear gas, the pirated digital equivalent will contain none of the damning evidence (invalid serial numbers, tear gas residue) and all of the fun of the original. I mean, this is a Call of Duty game and you're going to want to get online, right? Nobody buys/steals CoD for the single player.

Sources: DailyTech, MTV Geek News

[Sasqui]

LOL, was this a scene from the game, or real?

[OneMoar]

lawl
>cracked servers > No need for this
steam's is 100% completely fking useless when it comes to DRM

[H82LUZ73]

And you guys said in the BF3 thread that never happens ........

[jmcslob]

Short answer...Yes...They know exactly which games were stolen.

[D4S4]

this shit is bloody ridiculous - is this a sneakernet equivalent of hacking?

[DonInKansas]

Originally Posted by qubit

6000 physical copies, worth around 400,000 Euros.

More like 40 Euros.

[qubit]

Originally Posted by DonInKansas

More like 40 Euros.

Now that's just cruel.

[erocker]

Let them DRM MW3 all they want. It won't make any difference to them whatsoever. Is there an actual police report on this incident?

[qubit]

Originally Posted by erocker

Let them DRM MW3 all they want. It won't make any difference to them whatsoever. Is there an actual police report on this incident?

I would expect there to be, but I don't actually know either way. I googled this a bit before writing it up and in fact, the root story appears to be in French from one the French TV stations.

Oh, forgot to mention, thanks to 95Viper for suggesting this article.

[GunsAblazin]

I wonder if they knew what was in the truck, or was this some random heist? This has got to be the best news for EA/Dice.

[qubit]

Originally Posted by GunsAblazin

I wonder if they knew what was in the truck, or was this some random heist? This has got to be the best news for EA/Dice.

No, an inside job for sure. Robbers wouldn't go to the trouble to steal a car and stage a crash on some random truck.

Sheesh, they must lurve MW3!

[95Viper]

Originally Posted by qubit

thanks to 95Viper

Yeah, uh-huh... shift the blame to me.

Seems a second one has gone down... new story translation through google translate from the Le Parisien website.

Créteil, Mantes-la-Jolie: € 780 000 video game deflected in one day

It is odd, too, that both trucks originated from the same location per the news report.

[Volkszorn88]

You couldn't pay me to steal any COD game. I rather spend 60 bucks on fruit/cereal than to ever play another crappy COD game.

[Mr McC]

They staged the entire episode to discourage people from paying anything but full price at a recommended dealer.

[3volvedcombat]

In my opinion?

THOSE GREEDY BASTARDS deserve to have 10 of those trucks jacked, sorry for the drivers.

Recycling there developments and selling for silly prices, WHEN THEY DO NOT DESERVE IT PERIOD.

Do not get me wrong, they deserve some respect, but only SOME RESPECT.

bullshit "most anticipated game ever" marketing that comes strait out of my ass, they should be below or @ the level of every other developer, because they have NOT nor have ever developed something worth it in the past 3 years.

They still made millions of dollars, let those 6000 copy's fly to the hands that deserve it.

AFTERALL an Extra 50$ for the premium should cover it.

[qubit]

Originally Posted by 95Viper

Yeah, uh-huh... shift the blame to me.

Seems a second one has gone down... new story translation through google translate from the Le Parisien website.

Créteil, Mantes-la-Jolie: € 780 000 video game deflected in one day

It is odd, too, that both trucks originated from the same location per the news report.

Oh, gladly shift it! lol

I saw that in my googling and it actually looks like the same story, but with a different value for the theft, so I left it out.

[Mussels]

MW3 stolen?

good.

maybe the kids will by a real game like skyrim instead.

[OneMoar]

Originally Posted by Mussels

MW3 stolen?

good.

maybe the kids will by a real game like skyrim instead.

or battlefield 3 ...

[Loosenut]

Originally Posted by Volkszorn88

You couldn't pay me to steal any COD game. I rather spend 60 bucks on fruit/cereal than to ever play another crappy COD game.

True, at least you remain regular. COD constipates...

[95Viper]

Originally Posted by qubit

I saw that in my googling and it actually looks like the same story, but with a different value for the theft, so I left it out.

Nope, two seperate thefts... Quote from the page at Le Parisien

Two delivery trucks were leveled Saturday morning, one in Créteil in the Val-de-Marne, the other in Mantes-la-Jolie near Paris. Both trucks came from the same place, the platform distribution company Xfire, based in Bonneuil.

Two trucks, in two locations, originating from same starting location.
Inside job, maybe.

[KieranD]

Originally Posted by OneMoar

lawl
>cracked servers > No need for this
steam's is 100% completely fking useless when it comes to DRM

If someone is going to use a crack and play on pirate servers wouldn't they just pirate the game instead of robbing a physical copy? Would be a whole lot easier.

Man its just a game its not like it has any real value and people go and actually steal it?

[Easy Rhino]

sounds like insurance fraud to me.

[erocker]

Originally Posted by Easy Rhino

sounds like insurance fraud to me.

If those trucks had DRM on them, they'd all be fine.

[ice_v]

Originally Posted by 95Viper

Nope, two seperate thefts... Quote from the page at Le Parisien


Two trucks, in two locations, originating from same starting location.
Inside job, maybe.

LOL, I don't know if anyone noticed yet, but last Saturday was the 5th of November...

Remember, remember the Fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot,
I know of no reason
Why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

...or are you all implying it's just coincidence???