Starfield: Leaker showed 45 minutes of shaky gameplay – then deleted all videos and was arrested

For a long time, Bethesda kept quiet about information regarding the highly anticipated sci-fi RPG Starfield. However, once review keys were distributed, the first leaks quickly began to circulate.

What kind of leak was it? On August 22, a major leak about Starfield went viral. A video showed the first 45 minutes of the space role-playing game. Annoying for Bethesda, who had just previously complained about review leaks.

However, the leak attracted attention not only because of the actually secret impressions from the game but especially due to how bizarre it was. It quickly became clear that the leaker didn’t seem to fully understand what he was doing:

the shown gameplay did not look like it came from an experienced player
the video consisted of shaky smartphone recordings
the leaker announced that he would provide better recordings – this time with a GoPro

Although the original video was removed by YouTube due to a copyright strike, clips from it still spread across social networks. A clip about 60 seconds long received almost 1.3 million views on imgur.

The leaker also posted a short video on his YouTube channel in which he addressed Starfield head Todd Howard personally and shared his pre-evaluation of the game.

On August 24, 29-year-old Darin Harris, who is allegedly behind the leaks, was arrested by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Office in Tennessee.

You can see the official gameplay of Starfield in our video:

Starfield – Official Gameplay Trailer

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Leaker seems to have gotten too cocky

What is the leaker accused of? According to the Sheriff’s Office website, the 29-year-old is facing several charges after allegedly trying to sell stolen copies of the game before its release date on September 1:

charge of theft valued between $2,500 and $10,000
theft valued at $1,000 or less, which is a misdemeanor
possession of marijuana, another misdemeanor

Harris allegedly uploaded copies of the game, including the coveted Constellation Edition, on the Japanese e-commerce platform Mercari. Some of the listings have already been marked as sold for approximately the retail price.

Further videos showed the 29-year-old applying shipping labels on packages, with a stack of copies of Starfield visible next to him. “You thought I was going to post stuff online that isn’t real. No, baby, that’s not how we do it,” declared the leaker.

Around August 24, however, Harris began to scrub his social media profiles and delete his videos. It is still unclear whether the charges have anything to do with the bizarre online presence of the leaker surrounding Starfield or if he was arrested for something else.