Kaos Studios slams Homefront leak

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 8 March, 2011

Those responsible "have no respect".

Kaos Studios has confirmed the leak online of upcoming shooter Homefront and hit out at those responsible.

However, it is still unconfirmed whether the leaked version of the game is playable.

Reports emerged last week that PC and console versions of the game, which has taken Kaos three years to create, were in circulation.

However, the game code does not appear to have been cracked, meaning the files in question are unplayable.

Confirming the leak to Eurogamer this afternoon, Kaos creative director and general manager David Votypka expressed his bitter disappointment at the news.

"There have been some files that have been leaked," he said. "We're still waiting for exact confirmation but I don't think it's technically playable. But you can put it on your machine.

"Obviously we're pretty disappointed in the people that did it. Those people obviously have no idea what it takes to make these games, or at least have no respect for it, if they're leaking them out for free.

"The consumer world and capitalism is based on, the company will spend money on a product so consumers can buy it, so the company makes a profit and can make more and better products down the road. So when these guys get involved they're just hurting that, which hurts everybody."

Homefront, due out next week, is the latest in a string of recent high-profile videogames to suffer a leak. Crytek's Crysis 2 and People Can Fly's Bulletstorm were leaked ahead of release earlier this year.

While Votypka doesn't know how Homefront was leaked, he did offer possible explanations.

"There are different ways," he said. "With past games it's been an internal source that leaked something to somebody out in the public. Other times, somebody's got a hold of the code in other ways.

"Half-Life 2 was leaked before it was released. It was somebody hacking into their network and actually grabbing the code. They're pretty inventive."

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (30) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Penguinzoot #1 1 year ago

    So, what happened to the story then? The page is blank :)

  • Hunam #2 1 year ago

    Thanks for the tip off!

    /yarrs

    (btw, why post stuff like this?)
    Edited by Hunam at 08/03/11 @ 16:40

  • nemesisND1derboy #3 1 year ago

    It would be nice if you actually included the text of the story rather than a tonne of Shogun 2 ads on the page... :L

  • thesombrerokid #4 1 year ago

    LAZY OR WHAT!

  • M_of_the_sys #5 1 year ago

    The sub header was the article?

  • AllenSpawn #6 1 year ago

    Those readers "have no article"

  • M_of_the_sys #7 1 year ago

    Tl;dr

  • cianchristopher #8 1 year ago

    R.E.S.P.E.C.T.

    Find out what it means to me...

  • Negotiator #9 1 year ago

    I do feel sorry for these guys, just because sales will not be good enough, mostly because Crysis 2 is coming out the week after.

  • RobotRocker #10 1 year ago

    Piracy, bad.

    Borderline Racism, good.

    Thanks for the lesson guys.

  • Eldritch #11 1 year ago

    "Kaos Studios slams Homefront leak"

    Massive surprise there then.

  • Murton #12 1 year ago

    "Half-Life 2 was leaked before it was released. It was somebody hacking into their network and actually grabbing the code. They're pretty inventive."

    Nobody out there is so desperate for Homefront that they would hack into your network to get at it. Likely one of your own staffers, as the majority of these leaks tend to be.

    On the plus side, Bilson now has an excuse when this sells about a quarter of what COD and Battlefield 3 manage. "Our game is easily as good as theirs, and despite being a new IP is has just as big a following as the decade old franchises, it must have been piracy, it's the only explanation" /yawn

  • Der_tolle_Emil #13 1 year ago

    Well since it's out next week I guess someone snuck a copy out of the factory producing the game discs. I am not following the releases scene at all anymore but having a game available two weeks before its actual launch was (at least a few years back) pretty much normal.

    Of course it's still bad but I don't think this is a 'leak' in the traditional sense where a product gets available months before it's even finished (or announced).

  • ExplodingClown #14 1 year ago

    I don't give enough of a fuck about this game even to torrent it.

  • Mikeside #15 1 year ago

    Really unlucky that it got leaked - though I doubt it's going to change much. People who are going to pirate the game would've waited until it was on the torrent sites anyway so I'm guessing they're not going to be losing out much compared to if it leaked on launch day.

    I really hope this game does well and puts Kaos on the map - the more competition in the market the better. We've all seen what happens to Call of Duty when it is allowed to stagnate.... a la MW2/BLOPS *shudders*

  • arcam #16 1 year ago

    Loads of games get released a week before release - usually they even work!

    One story about a game finding its way online is a bit pointless unless you're going to list them all, and if you do that you might as well be a torrent release site.

    Just let the underground be - giving them publicity every time they score another high profile release does no one any favours.

  • DAN.E.B #17 1 year ago

    Only a five hour campain?

    Those responsible "have no respect".

  • coolbritannia #18 1 year ago

    Bullshit. They've released it, in an unplayable form, to generate publicity like this. To make us think of this game in the same league as the big titles that get leaked, like Reach, Killzone 3, Crysis 2 etc.

    Pathetic.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #19 1 year ago

    Bullshit. They've released it, in an unplayable form, to generate publicity like this. To make us think of this game in the same league as the big titles that get leaked, like Reach, Killzone 3, Crysis 2 etc.

    Pathetic.

    Possible. But seeing as piracy completely ignores quality it's more likely that this got leaked just like every other title out there because it's close to launch and someone got a hold of a copy. I'm not saying the game is bad, I haven't played it, but I wouldn't read too much into it. I really don't think they deliberately leaked it but I'm sure that commenting on the leak (even though it's nothing special) is a calculated move.

  • asphaltcowboy #20 1 year ago

    "Likely one of your own staffers, as the majority of these leaks tend to be."

    loltastic!

  • Bluetooth #21 1 year ago

    "The consumer world and capitalism is based on.." What an odd thing to say. Still though, in keeping with the game's theme, you could say it was leaked by the Communist Koreans! Tada, something negative turned into publicity!

  • Gromit #22 1 year ago

    They aren't half as cheated as the poor souls with no internet connection who spend £40 to play the game's 5 hour campaign.

  • nafter #23 1 year ago

    No plans to buy it, not gonna bother torrenting it either.

  • coolbritannia #24 1 year ago

    How is the game racist?

  • Tryhard #25 1 year ago

    Oh the poor pirate geek sitting for hours trying to get unplayable code to work.My heart bleeds.

  • Gearskin #26 1 year ago

    Isn't this studio also close to being dissolved? Talk about kicking them when they're down!

  • TheGuvernor #27 1 year ago

    A lot of cynical comments here.
    We've no idea how this got leaked - pure conjecture.
    Title looks solid so why all the hate?
    And how do we know it's a 5hr campaign?
    I really hope not; surely developers must have learn't from the MoH fiasco?

  • Arry2007uk #28 1 year ago

    It is sad that this has happened but I think it should be noted that stories like this (e.g. X game is now leaked, here's what the dev thinks) should be publicised after release (except in extreme cases). As this only adds fuel to the fire, many will see this as a "heads up" and check out the torrent sites for themselves now.

  • username84 #29 1 year ago

    @Exploding clown.

    Wow thanks. That adds so much.

  • ExplodingClown #30 1 year ago

    @username84: Sorry, should have kept that to myself. Would delete my earlier post but then yours wouldn't make any sense. Just utterly, utterly sick of those wretched ads.