5 Video Game Reveals Ruined by Leaks
These games got their time in the spotlight sooner than expected.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
Around six months before the game’s release, Modern Warfare 3 fell victim to a massive information leak. Everything from new aspects of the multiplayer modes, weapons, and even story details were leaked by multiple sources and reported by Kotaku. This was all before the game had even been announced.
Robert Bowling from Infinity Ward tweeted in response to the leak saying, “A lot of hype & a lot of leaked info on MW3, some still accurate, some not. To avoid spoiling the experience, I’d wait for the real reveal.”
Activision and Infinity Ward would go on to officially reveal the game with four separate trailers just a few hours after the leak. These trailers showed off the primary locations featured in Modern Warfare 3.
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate
Hot on the heels of Assassin’s Creed Unity, the first details on the next game in the series leaked out. At the end of 2014, Kotaku reported on a new Assassin’s Creed game set in Victorian London, with the codename “Victory.”
The site had obtained a seven-minute gameplay video that they posted screenshots and details from. The article gave details on new gameplay details including a grappling hook, which would end up being the rope launcher that featured in the final game.
Ubisoft released a statement the same day commenting on how unfortunate it always is that internal assets leak, and stated they were “excited to officially unveil what the studio has been working on at a later date.” We wouldn’t see confirmation of this leak until May 2015, when Ubisoft officially unveiled Assassin’s Creed Syndicate.
Far Cry Primal
It seems like Ubisoft might just have bad luck with leaks, between Assassin’s Creed and Far Cry Primal’s leak last year. For Far Cry Primal, Ubisoft took the time to slowly build up to a surprise announcement in October 2015.
The publisher had a livestream on Oct. 5, 2015, with nothing but a static image of a cave wall with details very slowly being added. IGN Turkey, however, tweeted about Far Cry Primal being announced before the livestream had ended. The site quickly removed the announcement and we all had to wait through a few more hours of the livestream before seeing the official reveal.
Ubisoft still had one surprise in store, however, with a release date of February 2016.
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is another example of a game whose reveal was cut short from its livestream. Square Enix ran a three-day livestream event called “Can’t Kill Progress” over Twitch in April 2015. This strange stream featured nothing but a shot of a man pacing, sleeping and meditating in a blank room. Viewers had the ability to change camera angles and even vote on how the man should act during his interrogation.
A leak from the Russian website, Kanobu.RU, revealed the announcement a day early along with a few screenshots. The game was then confirmed by Game Informer as the cover of their next month’s issue.
Final Fantasy XV
Final Fantasy XV has had one of the longest development cycles of all time. The game’s Uncovered event on March 30, was going to be the big reveal of the final release date and a bunch of new information.
Earlier in the day of the event, a video was posted by GameSpot that revealed the release date of the game as Sept. 30, and gave details on an upcoming demo that was soon going to be released for the game. The video was quickly taken down by the website, but not before the information had spread like wildfire across the internet.
What are some other video game reveals that have been spoiled by leaks? Does finding out the information before an official reveal make you less excited for the game, or make you even more interested? Let us know down in the comments below.
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