Earlier in the week we reported on a new technology from Google designed to sniff out and tag spoilers for TV shows in your web browser. Lo and behold, the need for such a technology has never before been so needed, as somebody on the Game of Thrones team just managed to leak the first four episodes of the massive show to the internet. Yes, this does mean you can illegally download them and one-up other fans.
Following the announcement that the show’s plot would feature different story elements to the books, fans of the fantasy show have been hugely excited for the new season. Hopefully spoilers won’t find their way onto your social media, but rest assured they are out there. Significant plot elements have been changed for the TV adaptation, but this leak somewhat ruins the fun.
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If you’re attempting to avoid the leaks just know it’ll be extraordinarily difficult – over a million downloads have already taken place by our estimates – the episodes were up prior to the release of the premier this Monday night, so downloaders have managed to get the drop on genuine consumers.
The show is already the most illegally downloaded in the world, with Time Warner CEO Jeff Bewkes unashamedly flaunting its status “Our experience is [piracy] leads to more penetration, more paying subs, more health for HBO, less reliance on having to do paid advertising… If you go around the world, I think you’re right, Game of Thrones is the most pirated show in the world. Well, you know, that’s better than an Emmy.”
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It’s absolutely crazy to think that a studio would so actively endorse piracy, given that the show is worth so much, but according to the above statement they seem to be taking it in their stride – there are a huge amount of paying customers out there willing to get the show via legal means, so obviously they;re not really too fussed.
The story goes that the episodes were part of a press screening package that somehow leaked to the internet, a watermark is shown but has been blurred out. With regards to quality, from what we’ve seen, they’re okay at best. In our opinion, you should wait for the weekly release, because spending a week predicting the outcome of the next episode is after all part of the fun.
Via: Forbes
Via: BBC