Borderlands 3 Boycotted by Fans Following Take-Two Investigation into Leaks

I'm not sure I really understand the controversy here. Take Two and 2K are taking reasonable measures to find the sources of leaks. The YouTuber in question appeared to have insider information and was thus questioned as part of the investigation by 2 P.I.s that he willing allowed into his home. What's the actual issue because I'm not seeing one.

@ZeroAbbadon The issue is that rather than just do a DMCA and make a legal threat, they spent 10 damn months effectively stalking this guy with an under-the-books investigation that doesn't actively involve law enforcement, and then had two random people appear at his private home because Take Two felt that was appropriate.

If a publisher puts something out early, and you see it, now there is precedent for them to send the bailiffs around to question you with no legal standing to do so.

@Knuckles-Fajita they spent 10 months conducting an internal investigation that included looking into SupMatto's videos in an effort to plug leaks and prevent future projects from leaking moving forward. They sent investigators to his house to question him to uncover more information, information they wouldn't have gained from just issuing a DMCA notice.

Private investigators are licensed and act within the law, they weren't 2 random people and SupMatto didn't have to comply with their requests for questioning, he would have been well within his rights to just close the door and ignore them.

The allegation is that 2K didn't put anything public early and SupMatto obtained information from private Twitch streams using exploits in Twitch's systems so naturally they would want to ask him how this was achieved. I still don't see an issue, this is actually less heavy handed than issuing legal threats.

Not creepy in the slightest Take Two!

Another reason to not support Take-Two. A crappy company that overworks its employees while only allowing R to make two games in 6 years. GTA5 was overrated and RDR2 was a mediocre bore fest and now this. I have never been into Borderlands but was interested in part 3. Not any more. People upset about the Epic store deal should be upset about this. T2 is now on my list of no buy along with Bethesda, EA, Activision, Ubi and Konami. Third partt has really been trash the past decade. This is why Sony needs to make more first party.

Borderlands 3 has got to be this years biggest mess. With all the allegations about Randy Pitchford, the whole there is no Micro Transactions statement when there are and now this. Everything outside the game seems a huge mess. I do wonder how it will review as so far it looks like more Borderlands which is fine but doesn't seem to have added anything think it will be quite divisive when released.

I cancelled my Borderlands 3 pre-order without any regrets. Anyone who supports take-two and R* in this are what s wrong with todays gaming. The only way i will now play Borderlands 3 if it drops on Xbox Gamepass or free with PlayStation Plus

#StillBuyingIt

@Splat
#YourWhatsWrongW/TodaysGamingIndustry

@KnightWolf #ThatsFineWithMe

@bindiana If I was a developer on Borderlands 3 I think I'd be really annoyed. The attention should be on the game and all the hard work the team has done over the last few years, but the good stuff keeps getting overshadowed by all this stupidity. It's gotta be frustrating.

I really hope that the Take-Two investigators were dressed like agents K and Zed from Men In Black.

Oh wow, this story is bananas lol. I will still be there day one, can't wait to play it!!

Don't forget Gearbox's CEO, Randy. Recently shared a video of animal abuse on his Twitter. The account he shared it from was quickly banned by Twitter.

As usual, no apology from him, he made it clear it was no mistake. Some awful people involved in this game.

I'm netral on this, it's a little bit heavy handed but I guess take-two have a right to investigate this leaks.

A company actually cracks down on leaks seriously - and what other response but HOWDAREYOU would it prompt among fans. Boycott? Any audience in a mindset to do such things on such a premise would be better off getting legally banned from ever consuming any 2K output if we step into the realm of wishful fantasy. Of course, not only it's not practiced anywhere [to my knowledge] but would probably urge them to get the game instead. Stick it to the man, yeah baby.

The YouTuber will likely learn a lesson and recover over time (except for whatever street cred he may have had with the industry), but these "divisive reactions" can go to hell.

Anyone Want more information watch this video. I take back what i said on waiting till it lands on Gamepass or Plus I wont play it period.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCyQV6ObCsg

@Splat I’m with you on this. I’m not going to boycott a game because of this. Sure, there’s better ways it could have been handled, but I’m not about to fault a company for taking actions against leaks. More should take actions, as far as I’m concerned. I’m still going to enjoy the game and I can more than live with myself for supporting the developers that put their hearts and souls into it. Yes, it supports the company as well, but that’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.

I_don't_give_a_poo.gif

I'm not boycotting it. I was never going to buy it anyway.

I don't see that this guy did anything wrong. He didn't use a Twitch "exploit", the information was there on screen for anyone paying close enough attention, in a public broadcast made to - as I understand it - hundreds of thousands of people. It doesn't even qualify as a "leak".

In short, these morons leaked their own information and are looking to shift the blame for their incompetence.

If they want to get angry and threaten people, try Twitch themselves, or whoever created the extension which exposed their information.

And now they're apparently blocking anyone on social media who questions them. Their heavy-handed handling of this will probably cost them far more than the "leaks" ever would have, and deservedly so.

Granted, there are certain elements of the gaming community who are very... shall we say... "distasteful". But I am getting increasingly sick of the the games industry as a whole - developers, publishers, and above all media - who seem to be treating gamers in general with growing levels of contempt.

Just looking at what we've had recently...

• If you don't follow the media group-think on certain issues, you're just "angry" and "toxic".
• Publishers have begun releasing games with no MTX at launch to get good reviews and early buyers, then adding them later. (Activision with CoD and Crash.)
• We're squeezed for every penny at every opportunity by many of the developers/publishers. (General MTX.)
• We've been told we like lootboxes, or "surprise mechanics", even though 99% of us despise them. (EA to UK Parliamentary Committee.)
• If you back a crowdfunded game which suddenly received funding from elsewhere, removing itself from the platform they told you it would be on, tough, you're not entitled to a refund. (Shenmue 3. Yes, I'm aware Epic have since said they'll cover refunds. Still stinks on the dev's part though.)
• If you back a game early and it gets funding from elsewhere, they're okay with refunding because "we don't need your money any more." (Phoenix Point)
• Generally talking down to fans voicing genuine issues/concerns. (Ooblets)
• And of course, it's okay for games media to write nonsense hit-pieces and publish the full names and locations of "angry" YouTubers and make it easier for creepy types to track them down in real life, but they all lose their sh*t when the ESA leaks their info.
• Now they're sending goons to the homes of long-term, hardcore fans as a result of a problem entirely of their own making.

Yeah, money makes the world go round, etc. But there seem to be a lot of people spending an inordinate amount of time and energy apparently making things for people they clearly don't like. You have to ask if they're in the right job; seems they'd be much happier doing something else.

Man digs up companie's private data, posts it publicly on the internet, and probably profits from it through ads.
Internet: "Our hero and champion!"

Company digs up private information on man who's been stealing their data, but instead of doxing him and selling ad space on it, sends a pair of licensed investigators to talk to him face-to-face.
Internet: "REEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

@Paranoimia
standing ovation best post i seen on this period. Funny for the games you mention i haven't brought any of them. I was hyped on CTR but with the addition of microtransaction proves i will never buy it.

Gamer rage should be a college level class. So many nuances and subtleties lol. Must be tiring getting so upset all the time over a hobby literally designed around fun.

I dunno if they approached him initially and said "hey what's with these leaks we need to know how this is happening or we'll need to take more serious measures we're being forthcoming this time to keep things reasonable" maybe things would be different or maybe that'd blow up just as well. I'd like to see what the private investigators actually collected on the guy.

If you ask me that's rather stupid reason to boycott the game. Leaking is kind of like stealing and from what I understand he leaked important information as well as did it plenty times, therefore he needs to face the consequences.

I will still grab the game, but my backlog is around 50 games atm, so it might happen only next year.

Ill probably pay Borderlands 3 but I wont buy it. My friend gets free games a lot and he said he should be getting BL3 but I wont give Gearbox or 2K or Take Two any of my money. People say Gearbox shouldnt be punished for 2K or Take Two but Gearbox decided to get in bed with these horribly corrupt and shady companies. Borderlands 3 is def. going to take a hit cause of all the poo surrounding it. Steam released and pirating games went down. Epic tries to force people to use there unsecurity bare bones site and pirating games becomes a problem again. The gaming industry is falling apart and its not cause of gamers but cause of greedy companies who want people to play there games while they use computer code to push them toward micro transactions.

I think boycotting a game because of this is just too much. What the actual hell?
I get that their method of handling the situation is pretty intense and wrong. But can you blame them? they spend year after year of working behind those computer screens and then someone leaks it.
And I, by no means, think that today's problems in the industry are because people buy a game that they enjoy and love so much. Especially when it comes to such a high card like Borderlands. This game is crazy and has always been, such a game probably gathers a lot of controversies naturally.
In fact, I think one of the biggest problems with gaming industry is YouTube and YouTubers who suddenly grow out of nowhere, gain fame for nothing are paid to at some points deceive their audiences. For example, if a high prised YouTuber (I'm not going to name anyone) decided to trash a game and destroy it under false criticism, it would do more damage to the game than an actual critique.
All in all, I think everybody should just drop the goddamn mic and play their games. It doesn't concern me that a YouTuber is punished for his wrongdoings (no matter how extreme the method is).
I am not going to stop enjoying a game series that I love, because the publisher decided to defend themselves.
#StillBuying

Maybe boycot a game for a better reason. Tax evasion and taking tax money thats is used for smaller companies. But im not going too boycot a game for this stupid reason.

Yeah, That is between them. Still day 1 for me.

Free publicity while making an example of someone? Also should this go to court a win by Take Two may provide some legal precedent for future cases of similar issues.

I will purchase BL3 within a week of release unless there are reports of performance issues.

The youtuber's videos about leaks and "hot new information" about future games, dlc, and updates are usually mind numbingly bad so i have stopped watching them.

Terrible job by Take Two... As usual. One of the scummiest publishers in the industry right now.

Don't care. Dude gets what he deserves. Buying the game day 1!

Update on Take2 and IGN's shady behaviour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CJa3KLmZ16I

I've not playing it since there is no 3rd ppov and as I don't play 1st ppov games. Does that count as a boycott?

@Splat And if people come with a reason too boycot atleast come with a good reason.

So boycotting or not boycotting means doing what the heck you want with your own money. I dont get why people would argue about that. You dont need to justify anything.
The rest is what is and what is not I e. Facts that does seem crappy either way.

The crux of this injustice is the question of why other outlets like The Know haven’t been pursued as he has. In fact, the Know were the first to leak the offending information, yet he’s the only one being punished. Fishy to me

@Paranoimia
Bravo. Very well said.
Just want to add: Ok, it was too much to send 2 guys to search and investigate, But, usualy people in this situations just call the cops and make a big fuzz about this. The youtuber didn't call the cops. Why? Were his actions to get the info totally "by the law"? a little strange to me..

@LowTech But similarly, if they had any actual evidence that he'd done anything illegal, surely they'd be taking action through the courts, rather than resorting to bully-boy scare tactics?

It's a very bad look for them.

@Paranoimia Yes, because they didn't have evidence they hired the guy. Or you are just right and they're trying to intimidate the 2 guys.
Yes, you are right, looks bad for them. But at the same time, if illegal things where made, and they feel like the police isn't doing enough or don't have the resources, what should they do? (I'm not saying that this happened, just being the devil's advocate here)

Yeah, sure, I'll boycott it. I had no plans on buying the game anyway, so it's an easy one to join.

But, yes, this is creepy.

Putting all your faith and promotion in the hands of unregulated untrained greedy influencers has bitten the industry on the bum??? No way. Didn’t see that coming.

I have no sympathy for anyone involved and hiring Private investigators is ridiculous.

You can’t work with influencers and expect no negative results... cmon get real

@ApostateMage I was think more Vincent Vega and Jules Winnfield.

@Salmonella "mmm, this is a tasty burger."

So a boycott over a company trying to protect their intellectual property? People today are clueless. I read on here that the person who was interviewed by the PIs should have called the cops. What was that going to accomplish? The PI would show their license and the cops would leave. When people don't understand how things work the first thing want to do is boycott and act like they know what they are doing.

@KnightWolf

#youre
#learnthedifferencebetweenyourandyoure
#yourewelcome

@Bagshot
Then we would have to get rid of Pushsquare and we Wouldn't want that would we.

I don’t like leaks of game announcements though I don’t like the heavy handed approach by Take 2 since it is obvs a scare tactic and it begs the question of what they would do with a genuine journalist report I.e investigations into poor working conditions or dodgy execs.

Why would the guy tell anything to a bunch of private investigators? Private Investigators have no authority or powers whatsoever, you can just laugh right at them and shut the door in their faces and there is nothing they can do. If they then trespass, you can actually defend yourself or just call the actual police on them (you know the ones with actual authority).

Private investigators have a license, but that license is worthless. They can't arrest you, they can't question you, they can't search your home legally or even get a warrant. Might as well hold a blank paper instead of a license.