6,000 Copies of MW3 Stolen in Delivery Truck Robbery

Piracy is usually an issue most publishers worry about before a big video game release. But they usually don’t worry about this occurring in the form of a delivery truck heist. Until now.

Over the weekend, a truck carrying a video game shipment in France, which was worth around 400,000 Euros, was robbed. The shipment reportedly contained 6,000 copies of “Modern Warfare 3.”

The delivery truck, which was traveling in Créteil, south Paris, collided with a car on Saturday. While stopping to handle the situation, two masked individuals appeared and used tear gas to distract the truck drivers. The individuals then stole the video game shipment that the truck contained.

Activision, MW3 publisher outside of Japan, has gone back and forth lately about whether or not it would place a ban on those who played the new game online early. Initially, Stephen Tolouse, director of Policy and Enforcement for Xbox Live, tweeted “dblchk’d with Activision. Mw3 pre-release play not authorised. So pls be patient. Playing early may impact your account!”

Later, Robert Bowling, Infinity Ward creative strategist, tweeted that no ban would be placed on those that played online early.

“No plans to ban legit fans, but try to wait til midnight launch on Tuesday to play #MW3,” Bowling tweeted. “Can’t wait to jump online with everyone then!”

But with inevitable leaks and online gameplay via the reported heist, they may rethink the ban. However, the game is already expected to be released at midnight tonight.

“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3” is an upcoming first-person shooter video game that is the third installment in the “Modern Warfare” series. It was developed by Infinity Ward, Sledgehammer Games, Raven Software and Treyarch (for the Wii). MW3 will be available for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, Nintendo DS and Microsoft Windows as early as midnight on November 8.

There has been a lot of buzz surrounding the new MW release. Retailers are preparing special offers in hopes of snagging gamers that plan to pick up a copy. For instance, Best Buy is throwing in a free HTC smartphone with the purchase of MW3, and others like Amazon and Kmart are offering Xbox Live membership deals.