Gears of War: Judgment pirates facing 'vigorous action'

Gears of War: Judgment has leaked to torrent sites more than a month ahead of its March 19 release and Microsoft has promised "vigorous action" against those who download illegal copies.

"We are aware of isolated cases in which Gears of War: Judgment content has been propped on the web and are working closely with our security teams and law enforcement to address the situation immediately," a Microsoft spokesperson told Eurogamert.

"Consumers should be aware that piracy is illegal and we take vigorous action against illegal activity related to our products and services."

A similar situation took place ahead of Halo 4's launch in November. At the time, Microsoft said those caught playing illegal copies of 343 Industries' new shooter would potentially face a lifetime Xbox Live ban. With Gears of War: Judgement, the situation is much the same.

"Playing pirated copies of games, such as Gears of War: Judgment, is a violation of the Xbox Live Terms of Use and will result in enforcement action, such as account and console bans," the statement reads.

Gears of War: Judgment is due out exclusively on Xbox 360 March 19, 2013 and is the first entry in the series since 2011's trilogy-capping Gears of War 3.

Developed by Epic Games in conjunction with Bulletstorm studio People Can Fly, the project focuses on series soldier Damon Baird and will not use the Kinect.

For more on Gears of War: Judgment, check out GameSpot's previous coverage.