FBI Makes Arrests for Half-Life 2 Source Theft

Online community purportedly aids in tracking down the culprits who caused an uproar last year.

Valve has announced that arrests have been made in several countries related to the Half-Life 2 source code theft, which caused a major delay of the game (as well as outlandish conspiracy theories). Half-Life 2 developer Valve attributes the arrest to the help of the online community, who purportedly aided authorities in tracking the culprits down.

"Within a few days of the announcement of the break-in, the online gaming community had tracked down those involved," said Gabe Newell, Valve's CEO. "It was extraordinary to watch how quickly and how cleverly gamers were able to unravel what are traditionally unsolvable problems for law enforcement related to this kind of cyber-crime."

With the help of tips and a "core group of people" who analyzed clues and traces left by the hackers, individual suspects were identified, leading to the arrests.

"It was very uplifting to see how the community rallied and tracked these people down. Everyone here at Valve is once again reminded of how much we owe to the gaming community," added Newell.

The Northwest Cyber Crime Task Force, an FBI branch based in Seattle has not specifically commented on the issue other than affirming that arrests have been made.

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