Epic may ban those who spoil Gears 3

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 15 August, 2011

"They'll be disappointed on 20th September."

Those who shared Gears of War 3 campaign spoiler videos online may be banned from playing the game, Epic has said.

Earlier this month Epic said it was keeping track of those who shared videos of Gears of War 3 ahead of release - and promised "repercussions".

Following the high-profile leak of a pre-release version of the game, videos of the campaign popped up online, spoiling the Xbox 360 exclusive's story.

"We're extremely diligent about getting that stuff taken down and issued a call to fans to not perpetuate it... and just keeping track of those who do," executive producer Rod Fergusson told Edge. "I don't think everybody's aware of the potential repercussions of those types of actions."

Speaking to Eurogamer on the issue, Fergusson explained exactly what he meant by "potential repercussions".

"We have a banning system built into our stuff so we can go in and identify certain people," he said. "Some people aren't smart about what they do. They'll be disappointed on 20th September when they can't get in and can't play. They may be banned."

Last month Epic said it had joined forces with law enforcement to investigate the leak of an unfinished version of Gears of War 3 onto the internet.

At the time the Unreal Engine maker warned fans that the footage lifted from the leaked game did not do the final game justice.

Those who shared campaign spoiler videos were "going against everything we're trying to accomplish," Fergusson told Eurogamer.

"We had one of my video chats and somebody went into the chat room and tried to yell all caps spoilers throughout the chat room to try to ruin the experience for the thousand people who were watching me. It's that kind of stuff that just drives me crazy.

"If you don't value this community, you don't value this experience, then we don't value you. I'd rather pick that one bad apple out of the pool so everybody else can have a better time."

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 (56) Latest comment 9 months ago

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

  • TheNonk #1 9 months ago

    So anyone at MS who helped secure its exclusivity is banned?

    ;)

  • arcam #2 9 months ago

    Shouting spoilers at a developer during a live chat is one thing, but I severely doubt Epic are going to ban anyone for sharing campaign spoiler videos online. It's all just tough talk.

  • HL706 #3 9 months ago

    Two wrongs don't make a right and all that. I'd also question the legality of selling someone a product and then telling them they can't play it! Surely if they have ways of identifying these people then they'd have to notify them in advance that they won't be able to access content in the finished product.

  • shadowdogg #4 9 months ago

    Boo hoo Epic. My heart weeps for you... not

  • kangarootoo #5 9 months ago

    "Two wrongs don't make a right and all that. I'd also question the legality of selling someone a product and then telling them they can't play it!"

    When it comes to online play, the terms of use usually include stuff like "if we say so, for whatever reason we like", so in legal terms the banning someone from playing online is on pretty safe ground.

  • roz123 #6 9 months ago

    It turns out he was a ghost all along

  • FireMonkey #7 9 months ago

    HL706 - "I'd also question the legality of selling someone a product and then telling them they can't play it!"

    In the EULA's it says in clear writing (usually near the top) that this software is licensed and not sold. When you hand over cash for a game, you are paying for the license to play it not the ownership of the game. This means if you break any of the other terms of the license they can withdraw you right to use it.

    I am not saying I agree with it, but it would be completely legal for them to do so.

    For anyone who hasn't read a EULA before, I'd advise you to see what you are agreeing to. they are generally not that hard to understand but are quite interesting.

  • sfp_noodle #8 9 months ago

    I find it ironic that they want to ban anyone that released videos of the game since only Epic and MS employees have access to the official completed product. Who else could have uploaded the game to the internet apart from them? Are they going to ban their own employees or publishing partners from playing the game online? Bit of a silly statement to make.

  • EdragonXX #9 9 months ago

    Do you want punish some your enemy? yes? Ohh very simple go and start make users with your enemy GT. And then start share this videos.

    1. Your enemy GT is: "IhateYou"
    2. You make in youtube same user "Ihateyou"
    3. then you upload this video to youtube.
    4. Just in case if Epic guys are too blond and dumb, add below your video and in video your enemy Gamertag "Ihateyou"

    Now just wait and ROFL a lot! Because VERY DUMB EPIC PEOPLE going to ban your enemys!
    Really I think EPIC people are just too dumb if they start ban people and cmon they told this scheme for everyone! So everyone can exploit this system now!!!! EPIC GO HOME! And anyway who wants play Gears of War 3 anyway? It's a biggest BULLSHIT game this year. Who want fight hours wiht one BOSS MONSTER? Only japaneese people like battle with boss monsters hours and hours and hours and hours! So why add stupid japanese boss sytem in this game?

  • kangarootoo #10 9 months ago

    @sfp_noodle

    They said "shared", not released. It won't just be MS people that shared the video.


    @EdragonXX

    Blimey, now there is straw everywhere. That will take some sweeping up.

  • jambii267 #11 9 months ago

    No-one is forced to watch the youtube spoliers videos, so banning the uploader seems a little excessive.

  • Slipstream #12 9 months ago

    It makes me mildly furious that Epic operate under the assumption that they create games that have good storylines

    Why? Yours is simply an opinion.

    I for one am avoiding trailers outside of official reveals because I always enjoy the campaigns, and yes, even the story for the Gears series has managed to keep me interested all the way through. It wont win any awards in that area, but it has its moments.

  • CrispyXUK64 #13 9 months ago

    Cocks

  • rodpad #14 9 months ago

    Good luck policing this.

  • H_D_Swagger #15 9 months ago

    Talk about taking yourself too seriously. Preposterous.

  • KDR_11k #16 9 months ago

    Epic believes people play GoW for the story. I got into a forum shouting match with one of the developers over this.

  • riceNpea #17 9 months ago

    they won't ban anyone. it's all free publicity.

  • WeakOrbit #18 9 months ago

    A few Locusts will be shot. And Marcus Fenix will grunt when he see's Poppa Fenix.

  • Altrezia #19 9 months ago

    Can they even do that? What terms are they actually contravening? (sp).

  • geeza2020 #20 9 months ago

    I could probably spoil the whole thing for you right now. There'll be some sort of training level in a human base, then some kind of attack will happen that causes you and your team mates to flee or get to an extraction point. Then you will have a level with some kind of vehicle, and probably a boss fight at the end of this section. Then you will go to the enemies base, lots of shooting and going "hoo-rah" while you fight back the evil horde. Then another end of game boss fight, finishing with the boss exploding and showering Dom and Marcus in blood, at which point they will share an emotional, long-time-coming-but-we-knew-all-along snog.

    THE END.

    zzzzzzzzzz

  • Spiders #21 9 months ago

    @arcam;

    You obviously don't know Epic have form in this area. When UT3 hit the shelves, and was widely panned by it's own community, it responded by banning anyone who had any sort of beef with it, including people posting in the technical section that they were having issues. Seriously. Polite commentary and requests to make fixes were deleted, when people posted to ask why they were banned.

    It reached a real peak when the aimbots for UT3 started to appear, and people started asking for some kind of anti-cheat patch. Anyone who even mentioned it was arbitrarily and permanently banned for being "random trolls".

  • Freek #22 9 months ago

    Ah good, wage war on your most hardcore fans, always a good idea!

  • SoulSeeker86 #23 9 months ago

    Does this include Old Spice man?

  • fiery_jackass #24 9 months ago

    Epic have precedent for this sort of thing, banning people under all sorts of flimsy pretexts and behaving **appallingly** on their own forums.

    mind you, dealing with the plonkers on their forums would have me waggling the banhammer with some abandon also.

  • Xardan #25 9 months ago

    Seems fair to me. Looks like im alone in this though. Lot of hate for Epic in this comments thread i see.

  • Collymilad #26 9 months ago

    Is anyone surprised by Epic anymore?

    They are dude!-jocks.

    I'll still be buying Gears 3 though, since it doesn't require me to talk to anyone who works at Epic, does it?

    @Xardan - there's hate for Epic because they make shooters. A lot of people seem to have a problem with that.

    Oh, and there's the fact that a lot of people have a stick up their ass because UE3 became the dominant engine this gen, and "made all games look the same" - Even though games like Bioshock, Mirrors Edge and Enslaved prove it's just the fault of Lazy Developers.
    Edited by Collymilad at 15/08/11 @ 16:30

  • NHDavid #27 9 months ago

    I could probably spoil the whole thing for you right now. There'll be some sort of training level in a human base, then some kind of attack will happen that causes you and your team mates to flee or get to an extraction point. Then you will have a level with some kind of vehicle, and probably a boss fight at the end of this section. Then you will go to the enemies base, lots of shooting and going "hoo-rah" while you fight back the evil horde. Then another end of game boss fight, finishing with the boss exploding and showering Dom and Marcus in blood, at which point they will share an emotional, long-time-coming-but-we-knew-all-along snog.

    THE END.

    Actually Dom and Marcus showering together would be a massive spoiler!

  • silversun #28 9 months ago

    Just thinking about modern warfare 3 script being leaked online , thought that was awful so cant blame them feel need protect the game.

  • MattEdWithCheese #29 9 months ago

    en masse tweeting of spoilers? #Gears3LOL

    Stupid move. To many, Gears 3 will look a tad dull but spoilers of major events may increase sales, I didn't give Kingdom Hearts another go until I heard what happened at Hollow Bastion and now it's one of my favourite game series.

  • TheInvincibleCarmine #30 9 months ago

    @EddieMink
    That's just BS. Gears is one of my favourite series and it is not for the multiplayer! I really enjoyed the story and am reading the books just now.

  • Broken_Hands #31 9 months ago

    Another week and another developer proving just how out of touch they are with the gaming community.

  • bratmandu #32 9 months ago

    Spolier: in Gears of War 3 you can run between bits of cover and shoot at locust whilst hiding behind chest high walls. Occasional vehicle sections. The plot is that you have to get from one place to another shooting anything that doesn't have a nose, until you reach a big nose-less thing, which you must then kill with bullets.

  • gani.slimshady #33 9 months ago

    Look at the attitude of the motherfucker!

  • giapel #34 9 months ago

    No Epic. You can't do that. In any other context that would called fascism. In fact it is fascism.

  • TelexStar #35 9 months ago

    @TheInvincibleCarmine "That's just BS. Gears is one of my favourite series and it is not for the multiplayer! I really enjoyed the story and am reading the books just now."

    It might be one of your favourite series but the story is so generic it's in danger of spontaneously turning the colour beige. The "characters" aren't characters. They're stereotypes, and bad "America - Fuck Yeah!" ones at that. Don't get me wrong, I loved both gears games but the story is not one of the high points. If you think it is then you need to read more books of the non game tie-in variety.
    Edited by TelexStar at 15/08/11 @ 18:16

  • General_Zod #36 9 months ago

    I try and not to be a book snob but when I heard that there are Gears of War books and that people actually read them, I physically shuddered.

  • fiery_jackass #37 9 months ago

    >telexstar
    the game is dotted with indications that COG are regarded as a bunch of Team America assholes by the populace, and that they're along way from being free from blame, plus it shows the odd sign of self-awareness. I doubt that the story'll win too many awards but it's just nowhere near as dumb as is made out by those that don't want to see.

  • gm914 #38 9 months ago

    But what if all the kids spoiling the storyline etc were all jaded PS3 fanboys hoping to ruin XBox players' experiences?
    What can Epic do?
    Ban them from PSN? Cut off their Gamefly subscription? Toilet paer their house?
    Bah!

  • danjfor #39 9 months ago

    Gears gets an unfairly bad rap for its story. Seriously -- when a game is shameless mental enough to announce a plot twist with the main character bellowing THEY'RE SINKING CITIES WITH A GIANT WORM, you can either go for that low-hanging fruit and take the piss, or shrug your shoulders and enjoy the ride. As one in the latter camp, I'm hoping to avoid spoilers and encourage the suppression of leaks.

  • paulf #40 9 months ago

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-...

  • metalangel #41 9 months ago

    Having taken an interest in the story via the books, I genuinely need to know what happens next. Suffice it to say: a LOT has happened between the end of Gears 2 and the start of Gears 3 for them to end up in the situation we're going to find them in, living on a converted aircraft carrier.

  • spiderignacio #42 9 months ago

    F#~ck them all!! I hate spoilers, make them cry, make them suffer... and then, saw them alive with a real chainsaw bayonet in Xbox LIVE!!!

  • ajaxpliskin #43 9 months ago

    Let me guess what happens in the story, some big homo-erotic burley men with big guns shout with big gruff steroid voices and shoot some other big burley homo erotic alien men, the end.

  • Bonders99 #44 9 months ago

    pompous twerp

  • Lord_Gremlin #45 9 months ago

    @spacedelete: That was obvious a long time ago.

  • ShiroBen #46 9 months ago

    Because people are only playing Gears of War for the story?

  • cyber_nicco #47 9 months ago

    I think a lot of you are not seeing the big picture. If people upload videos of pre-release code that is (presumably) not of finished quality, you run the risk of losing many, many customers. It's incredibly naive to think that companies that are investing much more than you and your friends put together will ever cobble together in your puny lifetimes will want to just roll their eyes and say "Boys will be boys..."

    /rant over
    :) at the "puny lives" bit...

  • Genji #48 9 months ago

    SPOILER: In GoW 3, Marcus and Dom finally give in to their primal urges.

  • Slipstream #49 9 months ago

    Is it? Is my opinion simply an opinion?

    Should you not be utilising your uncanny powers of perception to fight evil?

    Oh, you were aware then? Good good.

  • azic #50 9 months ago

    Oh but the piracy on PC is why we left it behind...
    Hang on.... The 360 flagship game just leaked a played on 360 consoles...

    Nahhh cliff, don't get all meta on those crazy CONSOLE PIRATES, it does not suite our agenda... I know, blame it all on the PC Cliff, your good at that.

  • Genji #51 9 months ago

    My opinions are not opinions. They are facts, bombs of truth.

  • Genji #52 9 months ago

    SPOILER: Dom's wife comes back as a zombie. Originally one of the the antagonists of the campaign, she defects to your side later on and becomes a playable character.

  • Phishfood #53 9 months ago

    This reminds me of US gamers complaining about being banned for their profile violations, saying saomething about having their first amendment rights violated. Turns out you don't have any rights on Xbox Live and its perfectly legal.

  • scuffpuppies #54 9 months ago

    I completely understand Epics frustration. Over two solid years of intense hard work being spread across Youtube and torrent sites must've been crushing for some of the guys. But the problem isn't people posting videos (no one is forced to watch them), or particularly the relatively small number of people downloading an unfinished version of Gears 3. The problem starts and ends with Epic and Microsofts internal security.

    This happens more often than it should with Microsoft, and how can Epic blame anyone who chooses to either post or watch gameplay footage from one of this years most anticipated games. It's human nature.

    But Mr Fergusson, please don't think the majority play Gears for the story. It's the solid gameplay that draw people in. The original Gears of War must go down as one of the worst stories in video game history (seriously great concept), and Eastenders had a stronger emotional hook than Gears of War 2. Incredibly fun action games though.
    Edited by scuffpuppies at 16/08/11 @ 07:00

  • metalangel #55 9 months ago

    @scuffpuppies: Don't forget: one of the year's most anticipated games that was pushed back at MS' request, so they'd have a big title this fall.

  • metalangel #56 9 months ago

    @scuffpuppies: Don't forget: one of the year's most anticipated games that was pushed back at MS' request, so they'd have a big title this fall.