Rockstar Accused of Selling Pirated Midnight Club 2 on Steam

Piracy is widely regarded as an unjust and unethical practice. Game developers dedicate significant time, effort, and resources to create games, and piracy undermines their capacity to receive a justifiable return on their investments.

However, a well-known publisher, Rockstar Games, has seemingly been involved in such an act. It has been reported that the studio sold pirated copies of its game, Midnight Club 2, on the Steam platform.

Why is it important?

Rockstar Games holds a prominent position in the gaming industry, recognized for its successful franchises such as Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption. Allegations of piracy have the potential to significantly harm the company’s reputation and diminish trust among both gamers and investors.

The information was shared by a Twitter user named Silent, who discovered that the version of Midnight Club 2 available on Steam appeared to be an exact match to the one previously cracked by Razor 1911, a well-known group involved in game cracking.

Silent’s curiosity led them to delve deeper into the game’s files, and to their astonishment, they uncovered a distinctive signature associated with Razor 1911 within the game’s code. This unmistakable signature served as irrefutable evidence that Rockstar Games was, in fact, distributing a pirated version of the game.

Although the studio ceased selling Midnight Club 2 in 2021, and it is currently unavailable on Steam, the fact remains that the studio had been involved in a troubling practice of providing unauthorized copies of the game to customers.

Rockstar Games has unfortunately found itself embroiled in piracy-related controversies on multiple occasions in the past. These incidents are not isolated occurrences, as the studio has previously faced accusations of distributing illicitly cracked versions of games such as Max Payne 2 and Manhunt.

Many gamers have expressed their concerns about Rockstar Games due to these problems. They argue that the company’s actions appear contradictory. On one hand, the company condemns piracy, but on the other hand, it engages in activities that seem to support piracy in certain cases. This perceived double standard has sparked criticism and raised questions about the company’s stance on mods and piracy.