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Steam build of Death Stranding 2 leaks via preload two days ahead of launch

LectureMaster

LectureMaster

Or is it just one of Adam's balls in my throat?
www.pcgamer.com

Steam build of Death Stranding 2 leaks two days ahead of launch

Something went wrong with the Death Stranding 2 preload process.
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Death Stranding 2 is now available to preload on Steam, but someone got more than a bundle of encrypted files early Tuesday—a pre-release version of Kojima Productions' delivery sim has leaked, and is now making the rounds on piracy websites two days before release.

According to a piracy-focused subreddit, the leak came via Steam, where unencrypted versions of the game files were seemingly made available by mistake. It's unclear how long the files were available, but apparently long enough for the 113GB game to be downloaded in full. While Steam does include its own DRM, it's relatively trivial to circumvent compared to Denuvo—which Death Stranding 2 doesn't use.

As a result, pirates are already able to download and play the game on PC ahead of its official release. Most of the comments in piracy circles so far seem to be focused on the available languages—the pre-release build, notably, is missing Russian voiceovers. Steam supports uploading separate language packages so players can download just the audio files they want to play with.

Anyone who pirates Death Stranding 2 will inevitably be locked out of the game's substantial online experience, which lets players share infrastructure like roads and bridges with one another.


The proper release isn't far off: Death Stranding 2 unlocks on March 19 at 7:30 am Pacific (2:30 pm GMT).
 
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LectureMaster said:
Anyone who pirates Death Stranding 2 will inevitably be locked out of the game's substantial online experience, which lets players share infrastructure like roads and bridges with one another.
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So it will be exactly like those first playing the game on release date for PS5.

Oh, no!!!!! How will they ever survive.
 
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Mr Hyde said:
Pirates are the scum of the earth.
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It's the dilemma. When you don't use Denuvo your game pretty much is cracked immediately; when you use it, you harm the legit buyers. But generally I don't think pirating causes too much detriment to the good games with confidence, e.g. Cyberpunk, BG3, etc..
 
LectureMaster said:
It's the dilemma. When you don't use Denuvo your game pretty much is cracked immediately; when you use it, you harm the legit buyers. But generally I don't think pirating causes too much detriment to the good games with confidence, e.g. Cyberpunk, BG3, etc..
Click to expand...
Games that release on GOG seem to be treated differently than Steam games for some reason. Like, it's trivial to find and distribute GOG games, but people buy them off the store anyway.
 
LectureMaster said:
It's the dilemma. When you don't use Denuvo your game pretty much is cracked immediately; when you use it, you harm the legit buyers. But generally I don't think pirating causes too much detriment to the good games with confidence, e.g. Cyberpunk, BG3, etc..
Click to expand...
except this gives Sony more ammunition in their "we will not support PC going forward" bullshittery.
 
LectureMaster said:
It's the dilemma. When you don't use Denuvo your game pretty much is cracked immediately; when you use it, you harm the legit buyers. But generally I don't think pirating causes too much detriment to the good games with confidence, e.g. Cyberpunk, BG3, etc..
Click to expand...
But they often aren't cracked immediately.
 
DavidGzz said:
Pirates have to be such a small percentage of gamers. I don't know any personally, but I guess they prob wouldn't be telling me or wearing any pirate gear.
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I think majority of "pirates" are from eastern europe. Back in 2006 when I played WoW, I played with a Hungarian dude a lot who was in the same guild as me. We sometimes talked about other games and he found it absolutely insane to buy a game when you can just pirate it.
Same guy has a 500+ games large steam library these days.
 
Braag said:
I think majority of "pirates" are from eastern europe. Back in 2006 when I played WoW, I played with a Hungarian dude a lot who was in the same guild as me. We sometimes talked about other games and he found it absolutely insane to buy a game when you can just pirate it.
Same guy has a 500+ games large steam library these days.
Click to expand...

Makes sense. I saw a guy comment on how the average pay in his area was $500(prob a different currency) a month so $70-90 was a ridiculous price to pay for a game. I can see it being way more prevalent in areas where a game is almost 1/5 of your monthly income.
 
Braag said:
I think majority of "pirates" are from eastern europe. Back in 2006 when I played WoW, I played with a Hungarian dude a lot who was in the same guild as me. We sometimes talked about other games and he found it absolutely insane to buy a game when you can just pirate it.
Same guy has a 500+ games large steam library these days.
Click to expand...
Sounds like a 2005 take.

Piracy isn't an "Eastern Europe thing" anymore. it's global, and some other regions actually have higher rates today.
 
I really think that this game should have been delayed to avoid being released at the same time as Crimson Desert. True, they are not the same type of game but I would wager that most PC gamers will be more interested in playing Crimson Desert than Death Stranding 2 come tomorrow.

Me, I've added this game to my Steam wishlist to pick up in a sale at a later date as I will be playing Crimson Desert along with, my guess, just about everyone else!
 
Mr Hyde said:
Pirates are the scum of the earth.
Click to expand...
Really? There are things much worse than poor people playing hobbled versions of games they can't afford. Publishers closing studios when a game (not pirated) doesn't have unrealistic sales they demaned and sacking 100s of people when they are rolling in cash is much, much worse.
 
SilentSpecter said:
Sounds like a 2005 take.

Piracy isn't an "Eastern Europe thing" anymore. it's global, and some other regions actually have higher rates today.
Click to expand...
I highly doubt people in countries with relatively good salaries even for low end jobs are pirating games. I'd imagine it happens mainly in countries where gaming is considered an expensive hobby.
 
Braag said:
I highly doubt people in countries with relatively good salaries even for low end jobs are pirating games. I'd imagine it happens mainly in countries where gaming is considered an expensive hobby.
Click to expand...

It's 2026. Have you looked around? Gaming is considered an expensive hobby for like 90% of consumers.
 
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[Egg] *Pirates game*
a-knight-of-the-seven-kingdoms-episode-1-ending.jpg

[Egg] I didn't think I was doing anything wrong.
[Dunk] Of course, you did! That's why you lied. Dry your eyes.
[Egg] I was just so disappointed when I couldn't [play the game]–
[Dunk] Oh, we can't have the little prince being disappointed now, can we?
James Franco Flirt GIF
 
Reminds of the Laurence Fishbourne movie Armoured in 2009. Someone from Sony thought they were uploading a trailer of it to the Playstation network. Turns out they uploaded the whole movie by mistake. Like the above it was quickly taken down but not too long after it was on pirate sites.
 
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Well...Death Stranding 2 is already at 47k players after releasing today, has yet to peak and has surpassed the previous game's peak which was 22k.

This leak didn't hurt it at all and seems to be doing okay.
 
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