Starfield gameplay leaker arrested for property theft after selling allegedly stolen copies online

The man behind the biggest leak yet – a 40 minute video of the opening gameplay – of the highly anticipated open-world RPG Starfield has been arrested on charges of “theft of property $2500-$10000” (and, unrelatedly, possession of marijuana). On 22 August, Darin Tyrone Harris first uploaded the off-screen gameplay footage on his YouTube channel DHavenShadow. In a move that seems rather lacking in forethought, he also listed a number of allegedly stolen copies of the game for sale online, alongside other suspiciously random items. He then proceeded to post videos of himself placing said copies into envelopes and mailing them from FedEx, with his face clearly visible, rendering any future denial of wrongdoing untenable. 

Harris had also shared what is arguably the first, though somewhat casual, review of Starfield, saying “for all the gamers who want a different kind of game, it’s definitely something to get…about leaving earth and all that”, concluding, “that’s a good game, y’all don’t want to miss that”. Two days later, Harris deleted all the videos and social media posts in a failed attempt to avoid being traced.

Starfield is an open-world sci-fi themed RPG about extraterrestrial exploration, and has been perhaps the most hyped game of the year. Not only does it come from Bethesda Games, the studio known for award-winning titles like The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim and the Fallout and Doom series, but details shared by Bethesda over time reveal an extensive story timeline and a proportionally massive open game world, comprising of over a thousand planets to be explored, many with unique life forms and native cities.

Reviewers have been given pre-release copies under an NDA but, unsurprisingly, relatively minor leaks have been surfacing for some time. Recently, drama was stirred when the game’s start screen was leaked, inviting some rather harsh criticism from a former Blizzard producer and designer, which in turn led to a response from Bethesda’s publishing head.

Starfield will be launched for Xbox and Steam on 31 August for the premium editions (priced US$99.99 to US$299.99) with early-access, and on 5 September for the standard edition (priced at US$69.99), and it can be pre-purchased on Amazon now.