Activision plans to battle video game piracy by recruiting private investigators that will be tasked with tracking down illegal sources of Call of Duty Black Ops. The highly-anticipated CoD video game title is scheduled for release on Nov. 9, but is now being shared and sold online.
The group can track pirated copies being played through Xbox Live, and will also monitor social networking sites and torrent trackers. Specifically, the IP Cybercrime group is more interested in collecting illegal copies of the game, and learning where the leaked game originated from.
The video game is expected to be one of the most popular titles of the 2010 holiday shopping season -- and is the latest game in a very popular video game series.
Activision is unsure where the leak originated, but it appears someone may have stolen the game straight from the printing press. At least one person reportedly stole the game and may have leaked it to several online sources, although it's unknown if that's the copy being shared around the Internet.
A person dubbed "Computer Healer" was approached by someone online, agreed to purchase a copy of the game, and paid at least $150 for the game. From there, an IP Cybercrime investigator called him to discuss the unauthorized copy of the video game he was in possession of at the time.
I understand the need to prevent piracy -- and anyone caught stealing the game to leak online should be prosecuted -- but using these investigation and law firms is extremely difficult. However, Activision appears to be more interested in getting pirates to understand why their actions are wrong -- and little additional punishment has been dished out.
I hope this proves to be an effective anti-piracy tool, as it'd be a shame to see Activision follow in the wrong footsteps of the music and movie industries -- and start trying to sue pirates.
