Gears of War: Judgment leaks online a month prior to its full release

Sad days for those at Epic Games and People Can Fly, as an Xbox 360 version of Gears of War: Judgment has been uploaded online in its entirety. A complete disc image containing the full game apparently leaked online overnight, a month prior to Judgment reaching store shelves on its March 19 release date. Neither Epic Games nor People Can Fly have yet officially commented on the situation.

A platform representative for Microsoft released the following statement, essentially reminding folks that piracy is bad and you're a bad person if you pirate:

"We are aware of isolated cases in which Gears of War: Judgment content has been propped on the Web and are working closely with our security teams and law enforcement to address the situation immediately.

Consumers should be aware that piracy is illegal and we take vigorous action against illegal activity related to our products and services. Playing pirated copies of games, such as Gears of War: Judgment, is a violation of the Xbox Live Terms of Use and will result in enforcement action, such as account and console bans."

While it's not atypical for games to be complete and in the process of disc manufacturing a month prior to release, it is uncommon for a disc to slip into the wrong hands. While not the first time a full game was leaked prior to release, it certainly won't be the last. The knowledge that a handful of the less clever pirates will get their Xbox 360s banned from online services is small reward for the developers who spent years working on one of the Xbox 360's last big exclusives.

Gears of War: Judgment will be officially released on March 19, the prequel to one of this generation's most popular franchises. If you're a fan, I'd recommend avoiding spoilers and waiting for Epic to get the full game available as it was intended to be released.