After a recent data breach faced by Insomniac Games, the internet is observing loads of leaks surrounding PlayStation exclusives. The hackers threatened to leak all 1.7 TeraByte of data online if Sony did not pay them a ransom of $2 million, and failure to do so led the hacker group to proceed with public revelation.
It is being said that the data leak contained a playable in-development PC version of the Wolverine game, and some users have been sharing footage of it. Although there is no such evidence to support this rumor, there was a lot of gameplay footage in the data leak.
they leaked today early gameplay footage of the new Wolverine video game pic.twitter.com/3r7l69MKwf
— SOUND (@itsavibe) December 19, 2023
Recently many Redditors have been discussing the leaked test build of Wolverine that allows them to play the tutorial of the game on PC and not PlayStation. Many convinced users claimed that it was not fake and kept sharing the build in the comments. However, these downloadable links were taken down by the moderator, as the thread is against the distribution of leaked or pirated content.
There’s a playable PC version of Wolverine now out in the wild. Some people are playing it and sharing screenshots.
This is now officially the worst leak in the history of gaming, this could cost PlayStation hundreds of millions of $
Really sad to see this happen to Insomniac. pic.twitter.com/N3FhLXIKtG
— PeterOvo (@PeterOvo5) December 21, 2023
Leaks have been there in gaming history for a long time, but frequency has increased a lot in recent years. Last year, Rockstar Games faced a massive leak that revealed gameplay footage from the game, and recently GTA 6’s first trailer was leaked hours before release. However, the Insomniac leak is considered to be much more serious as it contains not just gameplay footage, but also private documents that breach the privacy of employees.
Is the Insomniac Games hack the worst leak in the history of PlayStation?
With the amount of data that is being revealed through Insomniac Games’ private documents, it can be easily said that this is the worst leak Sony has ever faced. Not only did people get an early look at Wolverine before it was released on PlayStation, but people might have gotten to try a PC test-build unit. Test builds are kept private for internal use only, but release to the public is worrisome.
Furthermore, fans got to learn about unrevealed projects from the studio and when they will be released. The leakers also released private documents and communications between Sony and Disney, on making more Marvel-related content.
Sony must sell at least 6 million copies of marvel titles. If they do not hit that go, Disney can walk away and get paid a termination fee from Sony.
This is why Sony bundles Spider-Man games in their console.#PlayStation pic.twitter.com/pUWMb9zk3D
— FLINTDAWG8208 (@flintdawg8208) December 19, 2023
To add the cherry on top, PlayStation even faced multiple backlashes for various reasons. In fact, the entire internet ended up being divided when they learned about Sony projecting a price increase of games in the coming years. This leak has harmed the company in multiple ways and they might take a long time to recover from it.
To add more salt to the wound, many Xbox fans have created fake propaganda to turn common people against Sony. For instance, a narrative was spread that Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart incurred a massive loss for Insomniac Games, however, it wasn’t true. Netizens are also taking the opportunity to manipulate information to gain some clout, which in turn harms the company. Some PlayStation fans have spoken up about misinformation but were pushed away by believers of fake info.
Wouldn’t it be better to stop spreading this news? The fewer people who know about it, the better, also out of respect for the developers
— arksam_illustrator (COMMISSIONS OPEN ⚡) (@arksam_official) December 21, 2023
Nevertheless, Fans of Insomniac Games have been sentimental towards the developers and are actively protesting against people who are posting the leaks. While hackers are to be blamed for such a mishap like this, PlayStation fans believe leakers play the same role as them. Moreover, Industry Insider, Tom Henderson, advised gamers to avoid playing the test-build for a similar reason too.
It seems like there’s now a fully playable version of Wolverine circulating. I would caution from downloading if you get the opportunity
— Tom Henderson (@_Tom_Henderson_) December 21, 2023
Most fans are aware that all footage that has surfaced on the internet is from a test build. Thus, fans have shown their support for Insomniac Games and expressed their excitement for trying Marvel’s Wolverine, once it releases on the PlayStation 5.