Starfield is poised to become one of the most notable games of the last few years, so it’s unsurprising that leaks regarding the upcoming space RPG are starting to appear ahead of its official release date.
One Starfield leaker (via Kotaku), 29-year-old Darrin Harris of Shelby County, Tennessee, faces felony charges of property theft between $2,500-$10,000 USD (roughly $3,402-$13,608 CAD), a misdemeanour charge for theft of property $1,000 ($1,360 CAD) or less, and another misdemeanour charge for possession of marijuana.
IGN says that the incident report related to the arrest describes the stolen property as “Video Games: Microsoft Starfield unreleased game.”
https://twitter.com/Mr_Rebs_/status/169412441441606045
It’s likely police were tipped off by the leaked cell phone footage Harris posted of Starfield to his YouTube channel. As is often the case, the video was quickly pulled from the platform for copyright infringement, though there are still screenshots and clips out there if you know where to look.
Harris, a self-proclaimed “beginner” at RPGs, has been heavily criticized for not knowing what he’s doing in the shared clip, which can easily be forgiven given how confusing Bethesda’s games are if you’ve never played one before.
In an X response (formerly Twitter) reposted by @Mr_Rebs_, Harris said the following, directly addressing Todd Howard, the game’s director:
“Todd [Howard], no offense man, that’s a good game. “Perfect timing, about leaving the earth and all that, it’s good stuff. Pretty swell, good moves. They were saying I play like a beginner because I’m not a game expert, I was just trying something out. That’s a good game, y’all don’t want to miss it — Starfield for real.”
All of Harris’ social media accounts and accompanying posts regarding Starfield have been pulled from the internet. However, Kotaku says his listings under the username ‘JiveTurkeyStore’ on e-commerce platform Mercai, are still available. Harris has listings for the standard version of the game and the more expensive ‘Premium Edition,’ ranging in price from $200-$260 USD (about $272-$353 CAD). All versions are listed as “sold.”
Screenshot from Mercai.
It’s unconfirmed how Harris got his hands on Starfield early or how police got involved. You can find the full report on Kotaku.
Starfield releases on PC and the Xbox Series X/S on September 1st in early access and officially releases on September 6th.
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