Eli5: How are leaks from video games found inside the game’s files before it’s even released?
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I only know from Pokemon specifically but it’s probably the same with other franchises.
-Some titles allow you to pre-download the game so that you can launch them right away day-of. However, to my knowledge, the security on these types of downloads is generally too tight to crack quickly, so most leaks come from other things.
-Some games release playable demos as part of advertising/promotion. Often, the demos copy over large portions of the original game’s code, and end up including spoilery things. For example, Pokemon Sun and Moon’s demo contained all of the full game’s new species within its files.
-Usually games start leaking hard in the weeks before launch due to stores selling them early. Stores have to sign agreements not to give anybody copies between delivery and launch, but sometimes those agreements get secretly broken. Then if there’s no heavy encryption on the disc, whoever gets the game can play it themselves on an offline console, and/or upload the files directly online for others to dissect.
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