Black Ops stung by early piracy

In what is almost a given ahead of the release of any big title in the modern market, it has emerged that copies of Call of Duty: Black Ops are currently being distributed on the internet.

The games industry has for years been trying various methods to try and prevent the piracy of its wares, but publisher Activision has now come up with a brand new approach – it’s politely asking pirates if they would be decent enough to stop.

VentureBeat reports that Activision hired the services of a private investigator to track down those selling illegal copies of Black Ops.

The identities of offenders are traced via their Gamertag, with Microsoft handing over the details of those playing the game to Activision, who in turn passes them to the PI so they can be located.

These illegal resellers are then asked to meet with an undercover team under the guise that they want to purchase the game. Instead the pirates are then implored to stop selling illegal games and to hand over details of their source.