Syndicate developer Starbreeze Studios has included a lighthearted jab at piracy by bundling a .NFO file with legitimate copies of the game, Reddit user MikkelManDK has discovered.
As anyone who's spent time in the shadier corners of the Internet can tell you, .NFO files are the format of choice for the readmes that come bundled with pirated games.
Your typical .NFO sports a few standard features, and Starbreeze has managed to cram in just about every last one of them. There's the hideous ASCII logo, the cheesy slogan, the plot synopsis, the installation instructions, and, of course, the all important notice that you should pay for the game if you like it.
I knew that Warez teams work hard to ensure that pirated games play exactly like the real deal, but I have to say, this is the first I've heard of a developer making sure that buying a legal copy of the game replicates the experience of pirating it. Bravo, Starbreeze.
