PSA: Check if your game is being sold by this developer

[NoOne]

Couldn't find SUNSHINE RPG

https://rpgmaker.net/games/3876/ by quillandpaper. The screenshots on rpgmaker.net do show a different windowskin, but I've downloaded the game and can confirm that the windowskin is indeed blue, like in the screenshots on Steam.

Three Treason Theories was another one that I couldn't locate

Seems to be this one: https://rpgmaker.net/games/6740/ by Treason89.

Shadows Light RPG was another one that I couldn't locate

https://rpgmaker.net/games/6524/ by joshharbin

Slimes RPG was too generic to locate as slimes are every where. lol

Possibly this one https://rpgmaker.net/games/6670/ by sempersapiens

There are two more stolen RPG Maker games:


Originally from here: https://rpgmaker.net/games/1292/ by Rebezion.
The download has since been removed by the original dev for the reasons outlined here.

https://rpgmaker.net/games/4333/ by UlrichBR

The rest appear to be Unity asset flips.

They sell 34 games and not one of them is legit...

 

[Caitlin]

@NoOne Well, that explains why I couldn't find any of those, because I looked for "title" RPG and it doesn't have RPG in the title. =^_^= Mystery solved.

 

[Poryg]

There used to be "It's good to be a pirate" as well, but it got taken down by Rebel (also known as Reabezion), the guy who has made it.

 

[AceOfAces_Mod]

Sheesh! If it wasn't enough that there were attempts to insert coin miners to games on itch.io, there is this guy who takes complete games and selling them as his own (and possibly unmodified as well). Do they even have any self-awareness at all? Shameful display.

My game isn't in his catalog (possibly since it's in development).

 

[NoOne]

There used to be "It's good to be a pirate" as well, but it got taken down by Rebel (also known as Reabezion), the guy who has made it.

That one used to be available here. Now they sell another game on that store page. They probably caught on to the fact that people (including the original dev) were talking about the theft on the Steam forums.

Sheesh! If it wasn't enough that there were attempts to insert coin miners to games on itch.io, there is this guy who takes complete games and selling them as his own (and possibly unmodified as well). Do they even have any self-awareness at all? Shameful display.

I saw one asset flip where they even stole the trailer from the Unity asset store. Disgusting.

 

[Traverse]

I saw one asset flip where they even stole the trailer from the Unity asset store. Disgusting.

Given that the other games were flat-out lifted in their entirety from other sites, I would not be surprised if the non-RPGMaker "asset flip" games weren't even asset flips in the way Silicon Echo did them (which, as they put it, had some little original custom level design, even if it was all stock assets) but the exact same demos taken wholesale from the asset packages. If not, they were probably asset flips made by someone else and pirated by this seller (which was the assumption I made at the start).

Chances are good the seller/"developer" has never even opened Unity or RPGMaker or any of the engines used to make those games in their life.

 

[Archeia]

None of my games are stolen.


You should report this person to Steam directly, they will ban him and his games.

Sadly you can't apparently? I asked and it's required that the creator himself ask for a DMCA takedown from Steam in order to lead an investigation.

 

[Kes]

That's interesting, because under UK law, if they have received several reports of stolen games and continue to sell them without any investigation, they could be liable to be treated as "accessories after the fact", which is a criminal offence.

 

[bgillisp]

You know, I almost someone would take all of those Unity starter games, and just release them for free. That would probably put an end to those asset flippers right there. Only problem is, someone would have to pony up $100 each just to do that.

@Kes : That might be an US law too, not sure.

 

[Amane Kagari]

You know, I almost someone would take all of those Unity starter games, and just release them for free. That would probably put an end to those asset flippers right there. Only problem is, someone would have to pony up $100 each just to do that.

@Kes : That might be an US law too, not sure.

Well for US, as far as I know. Only people who are directly involved gets sued (or at least that's what most courts favors) (Fortnite for example is suing people for cheating and only those who are posting cheats online or those who uses those cheats intentionally. They're wanted to sue everyone but I don't think the case would go through if they did.). In most cases it's actually up to the judge to decide if they even want to "care" (hear) about your case. (You also can't do much about oversees users unless you're big like Apple, Google, Microsoft, etc. as most US judges won't give cruds about copyright violators that are oversees unless they scammed Americans for like tens of thousands or something (like state Attorney Generals steps in).) Basically, anyone can sue for liability (with a written legal document like a contract or agreement attached) but judges have the right to reject cases they don't favor, which are what these "steam thefts" may be considered as they're often the "small guys" and judges will mostly favor the big guys over little ones (or at least ones with the most money). Or if the cases don't get rejected, you're made to wait long hurdles costing lots of legal fees to the point where you'll have to drop the case. This is unfair but that's the way it is unfortunately.

 

[atoms]

Okay, hopefully those people games will get taken off that user's steam page soon. Really bizarre what that person is doing, that must be really annoying for those people who actually made there games.

 

[bgillisp]

I dunno, if this happens enough times it can turn into a class action lawsuit against Steam here in the US, and that would get ugly quickly. Plus here you can file a BBB complaint against them and get them investigated by the US Government, if they get enough of them the Government will be forced to take action.

Either that or everyone will just leave Steam if it gets a rep as only for stolen games.

 

[Tuomo L]

Check out those prices. $0.99. Talk about undercutting the market.

He'd need to sell exactly 101 copies of every game just to make back the Direct fee (even without considering other costs).

You're wrong. The number is actually higher because you're forgetting that Steam takes their share too.

Also, you people need to report these games for fraud.

 

[Archeia]

You're wrong. The number is actually higher because you're forgetting that Steam takes their share too.

Also, you people need to report these games for fraud.

We already did and it's not working.

We're aware of it and dealt with it as much as we could, however due to the fact that most of these devs have been gone for years and that Steam doesn't accept proof unless it's given by the devs themselves we can't exactly do much more than we already have.

I've talked to the Steam staff and they are not willing to bend on this, so there's really nothing that we can do except keep an eye on your own games and jump up if any others are taken. I've emailed the devs in question but alas, I doubt we'll see this guy taken down.

Pisses me off to no end.

I guess the only way for it to work is more people report it for fraud that steam has no choice but to actually look into it.

 

[Storyteller-Hero]

I don't know if Garnudo Games is getting desperate to make back the Steam fees before getting banned but they've suddenly put a discount sale on a bunch of games on their channel.

If this guy actually ends up with a profit out of this, that would be really troubling about the site.

The original owners of the confirmed piracies need to be contacted so that they can confirm and send official complaints to Steam.

I also found an interesting article about reporting violations on Steam.

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/9-common-steam-community-violations-report/

 

[Traverse]

You're wrong. The number is actually higher because you're forgetting that Steam takes their share too.

That is why I said "even without considering other costs", which was supposed to mean the cut Steam takes from the sale as well as overhead costs of setting up the company (assuming he bothered to actually set one up, although given circumstances he may not have). This was also already pointed out by the other guy, as he said it's 132 copies if you assume a 30% cut.

But as of right now, none of that holds true anymore anyway and I don't mean because he suddenly put a bunch of stuff on 40% sale.

If you check some of the new stuff that just got passed through Direct and made available to sell (which somehow happened despite everyone knowing they have been 100% pilfered from other sites), like Prison Break RPG and Shadows Light RPG, he's priced them at $1.99 or $2.99 instead of $0.99.

Why he raised those prices is anybody's guess. Maybe it's a fake sale and he still wants to sell at $0.99 so he jacks up the base price before the sale.

 

[bgillisp]

Taxes take 20% or more in most countries too. I figured in my country to make $100 back at $0.99 you need to sell 221 copies actually to cover taxes, assuming the fee is 30%.

You know though, I'm half tempted to go buy those games, play for 5 minutes, post a review stating they are stolen games, then refund them. Though dare I risk the fact they might have a cryptominer in them?

 

[Traverse]

I guess the only way for it to work is more people report it for fraud that steam has no choice but to actually look into it.

I don't think the volume of people reporting matters so much as the type of people/outlet reporting it.

I think Valve will only likely get off their behind if somebody with connections to gaming media does it (whether by threatening to publicize it or actually publicizing it) or if the discussion makes front page on places like Reddit or ResetEra which have a big enough reach that it could end up on said media sites regardless.

You know, the kind of hee-haw that actually has the potential to cause them monetary damage.

Otherwise, I mean, the whole point of having an automated process like Steam Direct is that it's more profitable to let little mishaps like this happen, because these things are (usually) still cheaper to ignore or handle after the fact than employing paid human beings to provide constant oversight. Or even just any sort of oversight, constant or occasional.

 

[atoms]

@bgillisp That's a good point, I'd advice for nobody here to download and refund the games for the purpose of raising awareness of stolen work in reviews, just in case they contain viruses, as you can't tell what else that Steam user may have done.

It's a good idea otherwise.


Edit: I can't believe I didn't think of this until now, but doesn't Steam check the content of what gets submitted there? I read it takes about a month for a game to get accepted and released because they have to check it's safe? In which case, they can't contain viruses after all? I still advice against downloading them to be on the safe side, but that must mean they should be clean, or am I wrong with this assumption?

 

[Marquise*]

Makes me wanna curl in fetal position shivering at how much humanity managed again to scare me. In normal state I would jump and growl RSJW way!