Full dev build of Space Marine 2 leaks, and players are already leveling up

How badly do you want to play the upcoming Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 ahead of its September 9 launch? Enough to torrent a 75GB package from a Russian site? Enough to not only unpack and play it, but connect to a server and start building up your character?

Me neither, but that hasn’t stopped seemingly hundreds of people from doing just that. Publisher Focus Entertainment had announced the third-person action game having “gone gold” (released for manufacturing) on July 9. The leaked build might date to February 23, 2024, as suggested by site Insider Gaming, which had previously suggested a June 20 date.

Footage from the leaked builds, which has been mostly taken offline by Focus through copyright claims, suggested that it was a mostly complete version of the game, with some placeholder assets in menus. Said footage also suggests that the game’s pirates are playing online, and their characters are retaining their levels and items. For now, at least.

In some ways, this shouldn’t really matter. When the game’s servers go officially live, developer Saber Interactive and Focus should be able to flag those accounts that have logged unauthorized time. Getting online to play will likely require authentication from the Steam, Xbox, or PlayStation platform one chooses. And there’s a chance that a closer look at the game, or even just news about its leak, might entice more people into buying and playing the game proper.

In other ways, though, it stinks. Spoilers from the game’s campaign and multiplayer offerings will filter out, and firms that should be focusing entirely on release and quality control will have to deal with the security and fairness aspects of such a leak. A planned open beta of the game had already been canceled in favor of the developer’s focus on launch readiness.

Game leaks of this scale aren’t as common as select images or isolated information, but it does happen. Grand Theft Auto VI had nearly an hour of gameplay footage leak in 2022. Discs of Starfield being posted for sale in August 2023, weeks ahead of its September release, resulted in felony charges for a Tennessee man. Videos spoiling much of The Last of Us Part 2 leaked online in 2020, thanks to someone “not affiliated” with its developer and publisher.

And the biggest and most unexpected hack and leak came from a small German town, where Axel Gembe stole and leaked early source code for Half-Life 2. He later tried to both apologize to Valve founder Gabe Newell and leverage his break-in to land a job at Valve, which was, to say the least, unsuccessful.

Ars has contacted Focus Entertainment for comment and will update this post with new information.