Square Enix Sues Hackers Over Deus Ex: Human Revolution Leak

Square Enix has taken a firm stance on the hackers that managed to leak out an early preview build of its upcoming Deus Ex: Human Revolution video game, and engaged in a lawsuit against 15 Italian individuals that have been tracked down and arrested.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is one of the most anticipated games of the year for Square Enix, but was struck with a major scandal earlier this year when an early preview build of the game, which covers the first 10-12 hours of the game, was leaked onto torrent websites where it could be downloaded illegally.

The build was initially designed for press members in order for them to formulate preview articles on the game, and was distributed through a private web portal.

These Italian hackers, however, managed to obtain the access details of a magazine from their country, entered the portal and then obtained the preview build, which they then shared, illegally, on the web.

According to the publisher, the actual Italian magazine had no idea their access details were used by the hackers, while the intruders entered the web portal from an IP address outside of the ones used by the magazine.

The Japanese company has now engaged the hackers in a lawsuit, via Patent Arcade, citing direct, contributory, and vicarious copyright infringement, and claiming damages in excess of $5,000.

Square Enix is claiming permanent injunction of copying and republishing against the defendants, as well as actual and statutory damages, attorney's fees and costs related to the lawsuit.

The preview build was downloaded illegally by many users and no doubt helped a lot of them formulate their own opinions about the role-playing, third-person shooter hybrid, currently in development at Eidos Montreal.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is scheduled to appear for the PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 next month, on August 23, in North America, and August 26, in Europe.