Stolen Superman Demo Is Being Sold On Steam, Original Creator Receives Copyright Strike
Back in May, we reported on a fun fan-made demo for an open-world Superman game. Made in Unreal Engine 5, Superman Style Flight Experience can be downloaded on (*****) with creator Tyson Butler-Boschma making it available for free. However, a Steam user has exploited this, uploading it to Steam and passing it off as their own game, charging £9.29 for the demo.
What has the original creator of the demo tried to do?
Despite numerous complaints and reports, Steam is still allowing “Heroes City Superman Edition” to be sold on its storefront. On top of this, publisher Hero Game Studios is copyright-striking Butler-Boschma, putting his YouTube channel at risk.
Steam is allowing someone to profit from a free game, while the creator of this demo is getting hit on his yt channel, but not the person selling it on steam? ! ?
Butler-Boschma filed a DMCA takedown on November 7, but is yet to hear anything back from Steam. In the meantime, Hero Game Studios is using the opportunity to harass the original dev, accusing him of copyright infringement on YouTube.
And what of those who are profiting off this? NOTHING!
It remains to be seen if increased publicity encouraged Valve to act, but this once again raises questions about Steam’s content moderation when it comes to indie games shared on the platform. So far, Butler-Boschma has been waiting a week for a reply, with Steam’s inaction allowing Hero Game Studios to abuse him through YouTube’s copyright claim system.
Using a stolen demo, and profitting off it, and so long as the platform it is on is OK with it, these criminals will continue to act with immunity, and harass all others.
They are straight up attacking and harassing me at this point and I don’t feel safe providing my personal information for a counter claim…
ID theft. That is the next step for those criminals.
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