Starfield leaker gets a felony charge after allegedly stealing copies of the RPG

The person behind the big leak of the opening 40 minutes of Starfield has been arrested for allegedly stealing copies of the game, which he then tried to sell.

Earlier this week, you might have seen some warnings that Starfield leaks had started appearing online. They came courtesy of Darrin Harris, who shared footage of the game’s opening through a video filmed on his phone, uploaded to his YouTube channel. Now, as reported by Kotaku, he’s been arrested by the Shelby County, Tennessee Sheriff’s Office on August 24. According to information listed on the Sheriff Office’s website, he’s been handed a felony charge for theft of property ranging in the value of $2500-10,000, a misdemeanour charge over theft of property $1000 or less, as well as a misdemeanour charge for possession of marijuana.

Watch on YouTube

According to IGN, who obtained the incident report of the arrest, the stolen property is listed as “Video Game: Microsoft Starfield unreleased game.” Harris has posted his $10,000 bail, but it isn’t clear what’s next for him after his arrest.

The leaked footage was quickly taken down over copyright infringement, but this is the internet, so obviously spoilers were noted and screengrabbed, so you should still be careful if you want to go into the game spoiler free (Starfield’s achievements list has leaked too, so it really is risky business being online currently).

Weirdly, a lot of people seemed to get fixated on how Harris was playing the game, kind of leading us to our first assessment of it. “Todd [Howard], no offence man, that’s a good game,” Harris said in a video at the time. “Perfect timing, about leaving the earth and all that, it’s good stuff. Pretty swell, good moves. They were saying I play like a beginner because I’m not a game expert, I was just trying something out. That’s a good game, y’all don’t want to miss it. Starfield for real.”

It’s not long until Starfield is out now, with a September 1 release date for those who have early access, and more widely on September 6.

Pre-order Starfield today or get ready with discounted Game Pass codes

Starfield will be launching exclusively for Xbox Series X/S and PC (Windows) on September 6th 2023. Pre-order your copy of Bethesda’s upcoming action RPG from the links below and get set for the new galactic adventure.

Players who pre-order the premium edition can play Starfield early from September 1st. That’s five days before it lands on Game Pass! PC Players looking to upgrade their PC can also get Starfield for free when you buy select AMD Ryzen processors, AMD Radeon graphics cards, or a gaming system that contains both.

Alternatively, you can play Starfield on Game Pass on day one. Our shop here at VG247 is currently offering a 5 per cent discount on Game Pass codes and Xbox Credit – simply redeem the code “VG247” at the check out. The code is valid until 31st July, so stock up now to save money on a Game Pass membership or discounted Xbox Credit if you’re buying Starfield on the Xbox Store.