Assassin's Creed Pirate Gets a Slap on the Wrist

[Andy Chalk]

Assassin's Creed Pirate Gets a Slap on the Wrist

The man who leaked the PC release of Assassin's Creed [http://assassinscreed.uk.ubi.com/] to pirates back in early 2008 has been sentenced to a fine, probation and a few months in a half-way house.

In February 2008, a man by the name of Christopher Anzalone stole a copy of the PC version of Assassin's Creed from his workplace, Ubisoft [http://www.oemdisc.com/] to manufacture the Assassin's Creed game discs. Thanks to his efforts, the game appeared online nearly two full months before it was scheduled to be released; Ubisoft was understandably less than pleased with the situation and tracked pirated copies of the game back to Anzalone, eventually finding a copy of the game manufactured by Optical Experts in his home.

Ubisoft sued OEM [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/85506-Ubisoft-Sues-Disc-Manufacturer-Over-Assassins-Creed-Leak] for $10 million over its crappy security practices, while Anzalone was charged with theft. Yesterday, he was sentenced three months in a half-way house and five years of probation, and ordered to pay $25,000 in damages to Ubisoft.

As noted by Jammie Thomas [http://ve3d.ign.com/articles/news/54613/Man-Who-Leaked-Assassins-Creed-PC-Sentenced], whose appeal of a $222,000 loss to the RIAA earned her a bill of nearly $2 million instead, Anzalone got off pretty easy.


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[VincentX3]

Wow. I can't believe they tracked him for a bit over 2yrs.

But only $25.000 fine, I'm surprised they didn't fine HIM to $10 million <_<

 

[Woodsey]

Stupid twat, and people wonder why we have DRM.

His sentence should have been longer and his fine much larger.

 

[fix-the-spade]

Maybe a silly question, but given how lenient the sentence seems, could it be possible there is more to this case than has been released? Like a history of mental illness or some other contributing factor.

Otherwise that does seems pretty light for what amounts to industrial espionage, theft and costing your employer $10million. Or perhaps Ubisoft were more out to make a point than bury the guy, from their perspective it probably wouldn't achieve much.

 

[Arec Balrin]

Ahem, Assassin's Creed gets leaked: becomes becomes fastest selling IP before Modern Warfare 2 comes along. Sells quite well on the PC despite the long delay and complaints about repetitive gameplay.

Assassin's Creed 2 gets DRM, not because of pirates but because Ubisoft are idiots. Relatively piss-poor sales on PC despite a shorter delay before release and reports that the gameplay has improved a lot.

Perspective much Woodsey?

 

[Weaver]

Ubisoft hates piracy so much they're tracking people down now? They don't even care about their profits, they just never want their work stolen I guess. Even if it means spending tons of money and time to track down people or to make their games so unplayable no one will even bother to buy them.

 

[silver wolf009]

Why pirate? is it really so hard to wait for a game another 2 months?

 

[Brandon237]

Ahh, I think the joke is on Ubisoft here, how much did they pay for court hearings? How much time and money was spent tracking this dirty thief? At least the bugger is out of business and if Ubi take a blow as well I'm not complaining. Two victories for me today, Ubi wastes time and cash and a pirate gets punished. Fate has a good sense of humour.

 

[Babitz]

Stupid twat, and people wonder why we have DRM.

His sentence should have been longer and his fine much larger.

I agree. Piracy is worse than murder, we should execute such people.

 

[samsonguy920]

Methinks this moron wouldn't have even been caught if he didn't feel the insane urge to share it with everybody. It's people like these who get unsold copies of a game out the most. You'd think the publishers and manufacturers would get a clue, instead of blaming it merely on Joe Blow, hacker/pirate.

 

[Low Key]

$25,000 roughly pays for about 500 copies of AC. Considering the game sold about 9mil copies between the 360 and the PS3 (not sure about the PC), I'd say that's pretty fair of the prosecution to settle for.

The halfway house and probation were his punishment for stealing, not pirating.

 

[Nuke_em_05]

Rule #1. Always always destroy the evidence.

He got of lucky, I say. 5 Figures, not 6, 7, or 8.

Okay, people who crack a game post-launch get fines greater than a Wall-Street bonus in a recession (zing! ...no? fine...). This guy performs essentially corporate espionage and gets away with a car loan.

I wonder if something more is afoot here... ooOO!! Shiny!

 

[Loonerinoes]

Stupid twat, and people wonder why we have DRM.

His sentence should have been longer and his fine much larger.

I agree. Piracy is worse than murder, we should execute such people.

MAKE 'EM WALK THE PLANK YARRRRRR!!!!!!

 

[Jared]

Wow. I can't believe they tracked him for a bit over 2yrs.

But only $25.000 fine, I'm surprised they didn't fine HIM to $10 million <_<

It would have been more there style for sure...well, I suppose they caught him at least

 

[Trivun]

I don't really find the sentence that funny, though it should have been longer. No, what I find hilarious is that Ubisoft sued the manufacturers for US$10 million for, to quote, "its crappy security practises". Basically, this guy gets off easy while the people he used to work for get a massive bill. Am I the only one who finds that slightly hilarious?

 

[Seldon2639]

Ahem, Assassin's Creed gets leaked: becomes becomes fastest selling IP before Modern Warfare 2 comes along. Sells quite well on the PC despite the long delay and complaints about repetitive gameplay.

Assassin's Creed 2 gets DRM, not because of pirates but because Ubisoft are idiots. Relatively piss-poor sales on PC despite a shorter delay before release and reports that the gameplay has improved a lot.

Perspective much Woodsey?

[Needs Citation]

In the first month of release of Assassin's Creed I for the PC, it sold 40,000 copies, while being pirated 70,000 times http://www.gamespot.com/news/6195570.html , http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=19736

I've yet to find any sales figures for AC II, but I highly doubt that it sold less for the PC than AC I did in the first month.

So, I think the perspective is: piracy hurts the gaming industry as a whole, and gamers in particular, and we should string the people who crack or distribute this stuff up by their thumbs.

I agree. Piracy is worse than murder, we should execute such people.

Mmm... Strawman

 

[AndyFromMonday]

The punishment was to harsh. If anything, this gave future buyers the ability to see how shit the game is and not buy it. Thanks piracy!

 

[Rynozeros]

I agree. Piracy is worse than murder, we should execute such people.

I am 99% sure this is sarcasm. But if that other 1% is right, well then ... I don't even.

 

[antipunt]

DRM, especially Ubisoft's DRM, wastes time, money, and alienates legitimate customers. The pirates get to play AC2 whenever they want, but legitimate customers can't access their copy when Ubi's servers go down or they don't have internet available. Way to make piracy more appealing, Ubi.

Pretty much what I was thinking. Despite the notion of piracy not being completely justified, I still wonder about the unfortunate legitimate users who get punished for something that pirates do not