PAX East Attendee Allegedly Tries to Steal Atomic Title

Atomic Games seems to have a penchant for creating drama, even though this time the Six Days in Fallujah developer was clearly a victim.

Joystiq carries word that an attendee at last weekend’s PAX East show allegedly tried to make off with code for Atomic’s latest game, Breach. The suspected thief apparently made the mistake of telling Atomic Games personnel of his desire to steal the game, even as he was in the midst of downloading it.

Atomic President Peter Tamte told Joystiq that the man had succeeded in downloading only 14MB of the game before the theft-in-progress was noticed. The man then took off into the crowd before eventually being detained by security.  The suspect claims that he was only trying to get online in the convention center.

The suspect also surfaced earlier at a PAX East panel, asking Xbox Live Director of Policy and Enforcement, Stephen Toulouse, if he could have his Gamertag ban lifted for playing Forza 3 early. The suspect then admitted that he had downloaded an illegal copy of the game once Toulouse clarified that playing an early retail release of a game is not grounds for banishment from Xbox Live.

In a statement, Atomic Games told Joystiq:

While it's a very unfortunate incident, it was a form of a compliment that he liked our game so much he risked a felony to play it early. Since we work with the military and intelligence communities, though, we had no choice but to have him arrested and protect our IP.