Starfield Stolen: Intergalactic Crime Shocks Gaming Community in Tennessee

2023-08-27 08:51:35
Starfield Stolen: Intergalactic Crime Begins in Tennessee Darin Harris got caught by a game leak and something else…interesting. Darin Harris, 29, was detained by the Shelby County, Tennessee Sheriff’s Office after attempting to sell stolen copies of the Starfield game prior to its official release on September 1st. Harris was arrested on August 24, four days after the first 45 minutes of the game was posted online. The official website of the sheriff’s office lists charges of embezzlement ranging from $2,500 to $10,000 and two lesser charges – embezzlement of property worth up to $1,000 and possession of marijuana. This piece about the long-awaited sci-fi role-playing game went viral on August 22. The grainy video, filmed on a mobile phone, has been shared on various social media platforms, even after being removed from YouTube due to copyright infringement. One video on Imgur has over a million views. Harris mentioned the director of the game, Todd Howard, in the comments of the video, saying: “Todd, this is a good game. They say I play like a beginner because I’m not an expert. But it’s a good game, don’t miss it.” Harris later began posting ads for additional copies of the game, including a special Constellation Edition with a “NASA-punk” clock, on the Japanese marketplace Mercari. Some of them were sold at retail price. However, fans of the game and other Internet users began to suspect Harris of fraud. How could he have access to so many copies before the official release? In one of the videos, he showed how he prints labels on packages with copies of the game next to him. After the leaks circulated, Harris began an active purge of his social media accounts, including deleting all videos on his YouTube channel. However, he may have done it too late. It is currently unclear whether Bethesda, the developer and publisher of Starfield, or Microsoft, the owner of Bethesda, were the sources of information to local law enforcement about possible wrongdoing by Harris. Most questions remain unanswered. How did Harris get access to pre-release copies of the game? Were his customers aware that they were purchasing stolen goods? And, most importantly, how will such leaks affect the release of Starfield and the reputation of Bethesda? Official representatives of Bethesda and Microsoft have not yet commented on this matter.
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