Yesterday, we talked a bit about Kmart retailers accidentally leaking Modern Warfare 3 before its street date. Today, Microsoft has issued a statement via Twitter that even if you purchased a legitimate copy of the game, you are not authorized to play online until November 8th, 2011. This is a strange move, considering most gamers bought the game at a store and didn’t hack or steal it, but it seems to be influence by Activision.

Stephen Tolouse, a Live employee, initially encouraged online play, essentially stating if you bought the game through legal retail channels, you should enjoy your time. But a few hours later, he came back and stated that after speaking with Activision, the attitude has now shifted to no pre-release play being allowed. He also noted that playing early “may impact your account.”

Now, I understand the need to punish players that hack or play pirated copies of a game on official game servers, but people that purchased Modern Warfare 3 didn’t break any rules. They went to the store and bought a game, and it’s the retailer’s fail the date was broken. The only problem I see is that some players will have a head start on unlocks and rankings, but that stuff evens out over time.

I doubt we’ll see any serious consequences from playing MW3 (if you managed to snag an early copy), but I suppose at this point you should consider yourself warned. There’s no info regarding PS3 copies of the game, though we know they were leaked as well.

Play at your own risk!

Via Destructoid

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