People pirate Game of Thrones a lot. People were already downloading it around 100,000 times a day in the lead up to tonight’s big season premiere, but now they’re able to do it with episodes from the upcoming season too. That’s because the first four episodes from season five just leaked online.
https://twitter.com/ntsnzy/status/587117352195461120
The leak started as rumblings on Reddit and was soon confirmed, with some noting that the first episode already had around 7,000 seeds and an even larger number of leechers (not a shock) in just a few short hours. From Mashable:
The four confirmed leaks appear to originate from a screener sent to reviewers ahead of the show’s launch. There are four episodes on the screener. The leaked episodes are in 480p, which is equivalent to the quality of standard TV, and a digital watermark is blurred. The show is normally shown in 720p or 1080p through HBO.
The purported leaker noted on a private Torrent tracker that the fourth episode would be the final upload for the evening, although they teased that more may be coming.
Clearly unavoidable, the first eps of Game of Thrones S5 leaked. Hearing they're low-res, so why not wait? It does air live worldwide now.
— Jio de Leon (@jiodeleon) April 12, 2015
The main nuisance connected to this leak isn’t the ability to watch these episodes early and skip out on HBO. I’m sure fans will still tune in to watch the premiere like normal. But now there is a need for many to avoid those pesky spoilers throughout the day, if that’s something they care about.
Seeing how the season is only ten episodes, having four out in the wild before the premiere is a crazy prospect. I don’t think there would be anything Earth shattering in those episodes, like a Blackwater or a Mountain/Viper showdown, but I could be wrong. You could certainly find out right now, but do you really want to?
