Activision tries to play nice with pirates

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There’s no stopping the pirating of games. It’s going to happen whether it should or shouldn’t. However, the tactics used against pirates can vary greatly. Most of the time a company being pirated comes down hard on pirate, but Activision is reportedly trying something different. They’re trying to be nice.

VentureBeat is reporting that the company has contacted pirates and basically asked them nicely to not sell pirated versions of Call of Duty: Black Ops. The company has hired private eyes who have been in touch with multiple pirates and simply asked them to not pirate the game and send back their pirated version of the game. It’s not clear if it’s working, but evidently most of the pirates get scared and do what they’re told. If you ‘d like a full rundown of how it all goes down YouTube user 504Ghostmaker has a four part video series describing his experience.

The investigation company, IP Cybercrime, say that in one case a person with a pirated disc, probably made from the copies of the game stolen earlier this week, was being a “smart ass” so they threatened to call his mother. The next step would be the FBI, but it seems that Activision wants to keep this as under the radar as possible.

There’s no stopping the pirating of games. It’s going to happen whether it should or shouldn’t. However, the tactics used against pirates can vary greatly. Most of the time a company being pirated comes down hard on pirate, but Activision is reportedly trying something different. They’re trying to be nice.

VentureBeat is reporting that the company has contacted pirates and basically asked them nicely to not sell pirated versions of Call of Duty: Black Ops. The company has hired private eyes who have been in touch with multiple pirates and simply asked them to not pirate the game and send back their pirated version of the game. It’s not clear if it’s working, but evidently most of the pirates get scared and do what they’re told. If you ‘d like a full rundown of how it all goes down YouTube user 504Ghostmaker has a four part video series describing his experience.

The investigation company, IP Cybercrime, say that in one case a person with a pirated disc, probably made from the copies of the game stolen earlier this week, was being a “smart ass” so they threatened to call his mother. The next step would be the FBI, but it seems that Activision wants to keep this as under the radar as possible.


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