A truck containing around 6000 copies of Modern Warfare 3 was stolen in France this weekend, according to reports.
The criminals reportedly used tear gas to neutralise the truck drivers before hopping in and making off with the video game shipment said to be worth 400,000 Euros.
Separate reports say the truck contained a delivery of Activision's much-anticipated shooter, Modern Warfare 3 - an estimated 6000 copies of it.
This wouldn't be the first theft Activision has suffered, after an employee reportedly stole a copy of the game from a shipping warehouse in California before pirating the disc and uploading it to the internet.
Activision has warned that playing Modern Warfare 3 before it's official release is "not authorised" and that doing so may earn you a ban.
Comments
45 comments so far...
Imaduck on 6 Nov '11 said:
Why in the f**k would you steal that?!
gmcb007 on 6 Nov '11 said:
Tear gas?!?
Dirty bastards were looking to get an easy kill. Probably glitchers.
deepbluerd on 6 Nov '11 said:
Oh hello Ebay
dannyhulse on 6 Nov '11 said:
Some people apparently can't wait TWO days.
MrPirtniw on 6 Nov '11 said:
Damn, they could've done us a favour and driven the truck into an active volcano. Maybe next year when the inevitable sequel is released, eh?
I jest, I jest!
Mmmmgrolsch on 6 Nov '11 said:
I dunno I think thief's tend to steal valuable stuff
rivariad on 6 Nov '11 said:
add another story to hype, 12 year olds squeezing their fists reading this thinking how cool
Reegeee on 6 Nov '11 said:
Yes it's much more polite to steal it on the day of release.
Grapple on 6 Nov '11 said:
I guess a lot of Russian mafia will be playing MW3 early. But on second thoughts No Russian would do that
The Bossman on 6 Nov '11 said:
LOL, why in the fk would you steal a game that hasn't evolved since at least 2007. There's 2 goddamn days to go, 9PM now so essentially just over a day to go. Mine will arrive on launch, hardened on PS3, but I'm working that day and if the package doesn't fit I'm gonna have to pick it up from the post office the following day which would be a fking pain. Please fit through the letterbox.
Ebonflow on 6 Nov '11 said:
But....why? And activision has had this happen to them before? My oh my
Padua on 6 Nov '11 said:
hehehe this would be a funny DLC for Payday : The Heist
KMakawa on 6 Nov '11 said:
So, who directed the trailer for it?
What?
Multiplayerking on 6 Nov '11 said:
They should have stolen World at War instead! Fools!
flash501 on 6 Nov '11 said:
They should've stolen Skyrim instead.
Sammy_bham on 6 Nov '11 said:
LOL @ all the troll comments already.
trying to get their two cents n about how much the game "hasnt evolved" etc etc.
im starting to think people actually just stare at this site WAITING for a COD story to trash.
Its funy coz all these supposed "kids" who play cod, act older and more mature then the pathetic morons who waste their own time pouring their hate into the game series.
this site is actually becoming untolerable.
anyway... back to the story.
any copies on ebay that say shipment from france, best to avoid
MrPirtniw on 6 Nov '11 said:
Grapple on 6 Nov '11 said:
Exactamundo Mr P. Only lighthearted poking of fun at MW here. .. Sammy chill out. We all know MW is the number 1 game in the world and will outsell everything else this yuletide festive fun season. Its just a matter of cup of tea thats all
Imaduck on 6 Nov '11 said:
My personal point was:
It's like nearly release day
How the f**k do you sell 6000 copies without looking fishy?
You can't go online or Activision's legal f**kers would be on you, and they spend their entire lives in court so they'll win
Those 3 problems just off the top of my head. Oh yeah, you can already buy it on Ebay kids, from that oh so reliable Ebay source of everything released or not - Hong Kong
TheLastDodo on 6 Nov '11 said:
You must've missed the part where Bossman, the guy that said it "hasn't evolved" then said that he's bought MW3.
Stop getting upset over a frickin' videogame.
I'm starting to think people actually just stare at this site WAITING for a COD story to break just so they can throw a little girly strop.
No offense to CVG's female readers
Just ignore the "trolls" and "haters" and enjoy MW3.
Sammy_bham on 6 Nov '11 said:
lol.
it has nothing to do with mw3 or cod or battlefield or mass effect etc....
it could be any game.
just would prefer to see some more mature, intellgent or comical comments.
does my head in when every thread i look at ends up like this!
yeah, i need to chill a bit. i apologise.... lol.
lol @ girly strop...
its not you... its me.
Grapple on 6 Nov '11 said:
No worries Sammy. We all have our moments, 99% of the time I enjoy your posts. And I reckon you know yours games. cheers
hephaestos on 6 Nov '11 said:
That's the dumbest idea...
Truck is a delivery, copies are still bundled as they were in factory... so serial numbers of the whole lot is on file... and likely the CD keys too. Activision just has to wait for one of these to log, get the IP, send the cops (it's grand theft), who'll be able to back trace the games to who sold it (selling stolen goods), to who provided it (the thieves).
Well... if the games have online passes that is... (cause if it's just X360-PS3 with no code then yeah, bummer)
EvilDog77 on 6 Nov '11 said:
Let's hope these masked bandits are brought to justice...
With Xbox Live perma-bans.
Bravo2Zero1989 on 6 Nov '11 said:
Funny enough, theres a guy on my PSN list and he was playing MW3 today, and he is french, could have 1 of those stolen copies. Don't know the guy, he just random added me when we met on BF3.
Got an e-mail from GAME stating that Activision want retailers not to send out pre-ordered copies before Nov 7th.
Sammy_bham on 6 Nov '11 said:
Aye Amazon changed the dispatch date to 7th on friday. probably due to the k-mart fiasco.
alan666 on 6 Nov '11 said:
now thats proper gangsta
360_Fan on 7 Nov '11 said:
More than likely someone just saw an opportunity to nick the truck, unaware of the contents. I see drivers all the time park their truck, leave the engine running and walk into the local lunch bar.
mincedbeef on 7 Nov '11 said:
The thieves were probably camping for 3 days waiting for the truck to turn u before ambushing it. No doubt they would have had to shoot about 16 full magazines into the tyres to stop it too because 1 or 2 rounds isn't enough to drop anything.
I wonder if they had to jump up and down in a circle threatening to rape each other's grannies before taking off with their loot.
Imaduck on 7 Nov '11 said:
Beef, in CoD rules, shooting it would've caused the truck and most of the world to explode. Get your facts right son!
KK-Headcharge78 on 7 Nov '11 said:
The scenario probably went 'pick up rpg' fire on the truck, move in press X to force the back doors, police miraculously turn up, gunfight ensues, jump in getaway car whilst Paris burns in the distance for some strange reason
CalumB90 on 7 Nov '11 said:
Just scum, scum with bad taste.
Plain and simple
YouStoleMyKill on 7 Nov '11 said:
“ Mine will arrive on launch, hardened on PS3, but I'm working that day and if the package doesn't fit I'm gonna have to pick it up from the post office the following day which would be a fking pain. Please fit through the letterbox.”
My local gamestation had the game on display on friday and the hardened edition box is quite big but i think it will just about fit in your letterbox.
YouStoleMyKill on 7 Nov '11 said:
They probably lost €400,000 a year for the last 4 games anyway what with CoD map packs being gameshared here , there and everywhere by ps3 users
but after november 18th that will no longer be a problem because you can only gameshare with 1 person instead of 4.
Sleepaphobic on 7 Nov '11 said:
Please let this have been organised with some insane briefing at HQ complete with wall map.
gooner77 on 7 Nov '11 said:
I didn't think EA could stoop so low
pRM8 on 7 Nov '11 said:
They probably don't give a s**t about the actual game, they just know that MW sells like hot cakes so they steal a shipment of games knowing people will want to buy them anyway they can.
Or maybe they are extreme BF fanboys who just want to sit and burn every single copy they stole
billysastard on 7 Nov '11 said:
frankly i dont think there are any depths that would be considered too low for companies like ea.
lets just hope these robbers dont turn out to be real criminals and sell the games as pre-owned
ted1138 on 7 Nov '11 said:
Sanglante EA, juste parce que votre jeu est un gâchis n'ya aucune raison de nous voler!
Barca Azul on 7 Nov '11 said:
Sounds more like a publicity stunt to me!
All sounds a bit far fetched, especially when you can download it for far less hassle than using tear gas!
Free publicity anyone?
u1travi01et on 7 Nov '11 said:
hopefully they tipped all the copies into a shallow grave, doused it in petrol and set light to them, while dancing around naked laughing
Very_Silver_Ownz on 7 Nov '11 said:
What 6000 copies of MW3 ? I have no idea what your talking about
/runs to CEX to sell 6000 copies of MW3
ted1138 on 7 Nov '11 said:
Always with the "dancing around naked laughing" you old perv...
u1travi01et on 9 Nov '11 said:
i'm not a pervert, i'm, just honest
ted1138 on 9 Nov '11 said:
Oooh, get her, an honest Perv...