No matter your attitude to piracy, it's a problem that isn't going to be solved by investing in DRM and trying to overly control distribution. This was proven beyond a shadow of a doubt today as a cracked version of Battlefield 3 was leaked onto the internet, allowing anybody with 14GB and a few hours to spare to play through the single player without having to pay a penny.
The multiplayer, of course, is locked off thanks to a reliance on EA's Origin servers, that hasn't stopped literally tens of thousands of people downloading the game to see what all the fuss is about.
And if reviews of the single player are anything to go by, most will not be adequately impressed to make a full purchase.
Despite all this, day one sales of the game seem to have been pretty strong, with almost three million preorders registered.
