Take-Two Sues Red Dead 2 Leakers, Force them to Give to Charity

If you know one thing about Take-Two interactive, it’s that they’re greedy little SOB’s. Last year, they made headlines when their CEO talked about how they were “undermonetizing” their already pretty well-monetized games, and everything they’ve done since hasn’t done much to dispel that particular mental image. So when Trusted Reviews, a UK-based gaming website, published a leaked document with Red Dead Redemption 2 details, it should be little surprise that Take-Two’s first reaction was to bring out the lawyers and sue the publisher, TI Media. After all, Take-Two has made it clear that they “take security seriously and will take legal action against people or publications who leak confidential information.”

The lawsuit itself (which Take-Two won) isn’t really that special, at end of the day, but what was surprising was that instead of demanding money for themselves, Take-Two is punishing TI Media by having them donate a million pounds to some choice charities. Now that’s a lawsuit I can get behind.

"Because this situation involved information about Red Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar Games directed the settlement funds to these three great charities: the American Indian College Fund, the American Prairie Reserve, and the First Nations Development Institute."

Of course, Trusted Reviews also had to apologize formally, which they did.

On February 6, 2018, we published an article that was sourced from a confidential corporate document. We should have known this information was confidential and should not have published it. We unreservedly apologise to Take-Two Games and we have undertaken not to repeat such actions again. We have also agreed to donate over £1 million to charities chosen by Take-Two Games.

So, that’s that. The leaker apologized, some good charities got some good money, and all is well. It’s nice when things wrap up so cleanly, don’t you all agree?