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Early access winners crack game, distribute it for piracy

The beneficiaries of a contest offering early access to a game have taken their price and made it available to all and sundry - somewhat distressing the publisher.

modern_combat_5

Gameloft held a competition offering a small number of players a chance to try mobile FPS Modern Combat 5 ahead of schedule. The game was promptly cracked and distributed to piracy sites.

In a statement, Gameloft said it has now switched on anti-piracy measures, leaving those who grabbed an illicit copy unable to use it (but not before thousands of people experienced it, apparently).

"Those who used this pirated version of the game just need to wait for the official game release. We will continue to stay alert and respond adequately to all hacking attempts," the publisher said.

There may be more permanent consequences, however; community manager Florian Weber said he was "really p**sed off" in a closed Facebook post, as transcribed by Polygon, threatening instant bans for anybody admitting to having a pirated copy.

The Modern Combat series has been remarkably popular. The latest instalment will be available on Android, iOS and Windows Phone on July 24.

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Brenna Hillier avatar

Brenna Hillier

Contributor

Based in Australia and having come from a lengthy career in the Aussie games media, Brenna worked as VG247's remote Deputy Editor for several years, covering news and events from the other side of the planet to the rest of the team. After leaving VG247, Brenna retired from games media and crossed over to development, working as a writer on several video games.

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