Square Enix suing Deus Ex leakers

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 6 July, 2011

15 Italians in the dock.

Square Enix is suing 15 Italians it believes are responsible for the Deus Ex: Human Revolution leak that occurred earlier this year.

Patent Arcade reports the Japanese publisher accused the group of logging into the "protected internet portal" where a demo of the game was hosted for press only.

With access information gained from Italian games magazine GMC, they copied the code and uploaded it onto the internet, Square Enix claims. Unofficial videos of the game appeared online after the build was distributed on torrent sites.

According to the complaint this was done without the permission or knowledge of the GMC reviewer who had access to the code. Rather, it came from an IP address not associated with the magazine.

Square Enix claims copyright infringement and seeks damages in excess of $5000.

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 (38) Latest comment 11 months ago

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

  • Dolly #1 11 months ago

    They really should have waited and bought it from Zavvi for £99.85.

  • spongebob #2 11 months ago

    $5000? Well, that's not much.

  • X201 #3 11 months ago

    "Square Enix is suing 15 Italians it believes are responsible for the Deus Ex: Human Revolution that occurred earlier this year."

    The revolution was real?

    These marketing gimmicks are going too far.

  • mumblyjoe #4 11 months ago

    Square Enix is suing 15 Italians it believes are responsible for the Deus Ex: Human Revolution that occurred earlier this year.

    Is it just me or does that make no sense? I guess Eurogamer doesn't proof read their articles.

  • Inmediasress #5 11 months ago

    Well considering there's rarely any demos released for games nowadays at least people can try it so they know what the f**k they are purchasing.

    Oh and yes the type-o is hilarious.
    Edited by Inmediasress at 06/07/11 @ 11:33

  • Shikasama #6 11 months ago

    Are those damages punitive? I don't really see how else they could claim it cost them 5k

  • M4RV #7 11 months ago

    Italian Job. LoL. :)

  • karooo #8 11 months ago

    Leak was better for the game, since now many people know that the game is amazing.

  • RawNinjaKid #9 11 months ago

    Italians, huh?!



  • TeeHee #10 11 months ago

    "Square Enix is suing 15 Italians it believes are responsible for Deus Ex: Human Revolution that occurred earlier this year."

    Surely the Italians should be suing Square Enix for looking to release a game that they'd already made.

  • obidanshinobi #11 11 months ago

    You're only supposed to blow the bloody doors off !!

  • layleeloo #12 11 months ago

    GOOD! Sue the bastards and anyone who downloaded it

  • the_dudefather #13 11 months ago

    Ironically, the password for the server was 'laputan machine'

  • lockload #14 11 months ago

    Its in excess of $5000 if it was less it would be a different court

  • Martin #15 11 months ago

    "Square Enix is suing 15 Italians it believes are responsible for the Deus Ex: Human Revolution that occurred earlier this year."

    Why are they suing their developers?

  • Jonny5Alive7 #16 11 months ago

    They should have made their server more secure then shouldn't they.

  • Quak #17 11 months ago

    $5,000? It will cost more than that to fly out there and get a hotel.

  • StolenGlory #18 11 months ago

    "They should have made their server more secure then shouldn't they."

    Or how about this pioneering pearl of wisdom - they could just not be pirating cuntrags and buy the game like everybody else?

    EDIT: Oh awesome. *looks at the six negs* So you conclave of cunts think that piracy isn't wrong then? Assholes. I hope you get rootkit fucked into oblivion.
    Edited by StolenGlory at 07/07/11 @ 09:41

  • StolenGlory #19 11 months ago

    "Is it just me or does that make no sense? I guess Eurogamer doesn't proof read their articles."

    Nah, just Wes.

  • crimsoneer #20 11 months ago

    Just going to throw this out there - just because they downloaded the press demo of the first level of the game, it doesn't imply they're "pirating gutrags". If anything, if they're willing to go through that much work to play the demo, you can pretty much guarantee they WILL buy it.

    Just saying.

  • Tyronne #21 11 months ago

    Hacka da planet? we did and it costa 5 grand.

  • Snidesworth #22 11 months ago

    Karoo has it right. It's not the full game, just the preview build that the press got to play. It's a good 6 hours long, if not more, and has been the most positive marketing the game's received.

  • HL706 #23 11 months ago

    After playing the leaked version you can sign me up as a guarenteed 1st day buyer. Really enjoyed it :-)

  • deano2099 #24 11 months ago

    @crimsoneer

    Fair point, but it's more than the first level. It's the first third of the game (supposedly 10-15 hours)... kinda like the old shareware days *reminisces*

  • dragulagb #25 11 months ago

    ill wait now for the eurogamer article saying square enix has been hacked by someone for the injustice of the italians

  • kangarootoo #26 11 months ago

    @Jonny5Alive7

    "They should have made their server more secure then shouldn't they."

    Did you read the article?

  • Nephirion #27 11 months ago

    Why all the cloak and dagger with the demo? let the public judge the quality of your work and not a bunch of magazine types that are probably paid for a good review.

  • Lunatic4ever #28 11 months ago

    Square BELIEVES they are responsible?

    Well,there should be more to back it up than a mere believe,right?

  • coomber #29 11 months ago

    "Square BELIEVES they are responsible?

    Well,there should be more to back it up than a mere believe,right?"

    That's as strong as Eurogamer can word it without suggesting the people accused of the theft are guilty, which is technically libel.

  • zide #30 11 months ago

    It was a beta version of the game which had like two of the first main story missions and some side quests. They actually made Square Enix a favor since after playing the leak i can safely say it's a first day purchase to me as it is to many others who have tried out the game.
    Edited by zide at 06/07/11 @ 15:32

  • Silvervein #31 11 months ago

    I doubt that they will send yakuza to deal with italian mafia, so those italian guys are pretty safe...

    Seriously though, since the leaked version is a demo and not a full game, what happened is game promotion gig more than anything else. The extra noise around the leak (if it was indeed a leak and not something square enix did themselves) will help them sell the game, since it seems that they did hit closer to original deus ex than deus ex 2 was.

    Also, where did info on the game length (10-15 hours) come from? If the game is that short, it's a bit of a disappointment.

  • Phishfood #32 11 months ago

    $5000? Well I must say that is an affordable yet crippling amount of money for an average joe. Good to see they didn't pull a Sony by asking for some stupid amount.

  • sabbede #33 11 months ago

    If they were smart they'd just ask for some Italian food instead.
    Have them send their grandmothers over to do some cooking. If you're used to rice and raw fish, some Pollo Parmigiana on a bed of linguine will smooth over all sorts of ruffled feathers...

  • silversun #34 11 months ago

    Game should be great.
    Never like see any part of a game leak , also read online somewhere gears 3 may have been leaked this week , that is terrible.

  • Silvervein #35 11 months ago

    @twinberettas
    Thank you for the links, it seems the game might be longer than 20 hours, which I feared. A good thing too, if they keep up the deus ex spirit. I liked what I saw in the leaked demo.

  • BuddyChrist #36 11 months ago

    ....?
    So, does that mean each Italian has to pay £333.33 ?

    It's ironic that one of the Axis nations are starting a real human revolution, that must be wrong

  • layleeloo #37 11 months ago

    -17 already. Wow there are a lot of THIEVES out there who obviously dissagree

  • Ahskay #38 11 months ago

    I stand with you Layleeloo \o/