We’re used to seeing corporations use DMCA rulings to take down videos and music uploads, but it’s rare to see an entire videogame torn down over a copyright claim. That’s what happened on June 27 when Orion was removed from Steam via Activision, following claims that assets – primarily gun models – were illegally copied from Call of Duty: Black Ops III.
David Prassel of Trek Industries got ahead of Activision and claimed the takedown was spurious.
The natural inclination of the Internet was to assume Activision was the bad guy. It’s a classic story – the big corporation throwing its weight around and crushing a smaller competitor.
But then things got… complicated.
“This is extremely serious that a DCMA request has removed our entire game from sale, during the biggest sale event of the year,” claimed Prassel in his original statement. “Apparently no cross-checking was done by our Partner, who we’ve been with for over 5 years and I have seen better and would expect better from them. At minimum, to contact us regarding our assets/defense before taking any action.
“We’ve made Steam our primary platform, but this has put a definite scare into us going forward considering our entire livelihood can be pulled without a moments notice, without any warning or proper verification. I cannot even confirm that the representative from Activision is a real person as absolutely no results pop up in any of my searches.”
Prassel would go on to call the claim “erroneous” and even threw a few Twitter hashtags out there for fans to use – #OrionNeedsYou, #LookWhosScared, and #SteamWTF.
The guns alleged to have been stolen from Black Ops III are the M8A7 rifle, the Haymaker rifle, and the Bal-27 rifle. Prassel himself posted comparison shots to exonerate his team.
At first glance, everything was cut and dried. I contacted David myself for a statement, as well as Activision. While Activision did not bother getting back to me, Prassel followed up his claims with more information.
“I received the DCMA request after its removal from Steam with no warning/contact from either Valve/Steam or any developer associated with Call of Duty nor anyone from Activision,” he told me. “I never was provided specific examples of assets, or screenshots of what offended them – nor given the chance to rectify or remove any offensive content prior to having our game removed from sale.
“We immediately offered to remove ANY offensive content (as it wasn’t specified) and this was not accepted.”
The Internet, however, was already digging and found its first clue that Activision’s claims may not be all that erroneous. The following image was passed around as people began to doubt Trek Industries’ side of the story.
“The sight is the only similarity we can see,” said Prassel in response. “Even if it was a 1:1, that’s not enough for a design infraction, even by legal standards and by a significant amount. And the sight is just a futuristic M1 Garand, so either way both are homaging a real world property, the only thing that could actually hold up and is the only one without a dog in this fight.”
He’d go on to change tack, moving from the illegitimacy of the claim to the unfairness of not being contacted or allowed to make changes before the game was pulled.
“Regardless, an invalid and malicious act from Activision on wrong or non-existent evidence. They are a multi-billion dollar company coming over what is currently a 50 cent game, without contacting us or requesting anything of us NOR providing any specific assets or images of the offensive content to begin with.
“I just can’t believe of all things, it was over a generic sci-fi weapon. Regardless what it was over, the most important thing was that we were not warned, contacted by either party nor able to remedy it. We were given no specific information relating to assets, only left to guess or use fan-submitted content/links to decipher. We offered immediately to remove any offensive content right off the bat, this was rejected.”
However, things quickly got more complicated. A Reddit thread, initially in favor of Trek Industries, turned on a dime as more comparison shots were found and other commenters pointed out Orion‘s previous history with illegal asset use.
The thread points out a history of controversy surrounding The Orion Project, going back to when it was originally called Orion: Dino Beatdown.
That history includes allegations of Kickstarter scamming, with David Prassel receiving $20,000 for a project before firing his entire team without compensation. It also includes a prior history of alleged asset theft, with Dino Beatdown said to include items from Natural Selection 2 and a whole host of other games.
Then more damning comparison shots surfaced…
When I asked David Prassel about the Reddit thread and its allegations he was terse, but he did respond. “Insane” was the word he used to describe the accusations.
“I don’t name drop back about 2012, since it was very personal. But I did open up about what went down and why all that happened once the product was restored.”
He provided a link to this article which detailed Orion‘s development history.
“But to that we have 4+ years of fan service, hundreds of free updates, honoring a failed Kickstarter, and so much more that is actually trackable or having verified proof, unlike many of those (mostly insane) allegations,” he continued. “Just look up anything we have actually done, stuff you can actually tangibly prove.
“I’ve been around every single day, for many years, interacting with and supporting our fans. Just check the steam news of either of our games or how much either has grown.”
It’s at this point things went completely off the rails.
Prassel’s public demeanour would change from that of an embattled little guy facing off against a major corporation to… well… something resembling a cornered animal.
At first, things were calm but suspect. Prassel announced on June 28 that he would not be pursuing legal action against Activision despite such action being what he called “easy justice.”
“We will not be the DMCA, patent-infringing types that hinder production and creativity,” he declared. “That being said, we will be ensuring that Activision covers for the damages they’ve inflicted, both by removal of the game during the largest event of the year as well as malicious and invalid claims which acted as slander and defamation.”
He would do this, he claimed, by crowdfunding the damage costs directly from the community, asking Orion‘s fans to cover the losses incurred from being unable to partake in Steam’s summer sale – losses that amounted to 90% profit, he estimated.
Meanwhile, the evidence against Trek just kept piling up.
And honestly you can see the whole steaming mess here.
That didn’t stop Trek Industries’ crowdfunding efforts, however. An Indiegogo was launched to “support game developers who support their fans.” According to screenshots, $500 of the campaign’s $1,515 total was donated by Trek Industries itself.
Amid accusations of Trek deleting Facebook comments pointing out the company’s shady reputation, David himself is said to have issued threats on Reddit. Legal action was promised to anybody who continued to spread “malicious falsehoods” about David Prassel. In his defense, Prassel claims his Reddit account was hacked and that he was not responsible for legal threats.
Prassel would attempt to prove he was hacked by posting his account activity, but other commenters suggested it was proof that he wasn’t hacked. You can see the exchange for yourself and make your own mind up.
In an embittered Steam forum post, David would go on to say he was “about done with this industry.”
He’d lash out at Activision and similar publishers, too.
“If you want a developer that abuses you, rapes your wallet with annual $60 rehashes, DLC, $15 map packs and other disastrous efforts like invalid and illegal DMCA takedowns, by all means let them continue to ruin the gaming industry.”
He then banned himself from his own game’s Steam forums, saying it was to protect himself from himself.
That’s about where we’re at with the story so far, but given Prassel’s erratic behavior in the face of community digging, I assume there are things yet to develop.
As it stands, this entire debacle looks set to be one of the more remarkable own goals we’ve ever seen in the industry. To go from sympathetic victim of corporate overreach to maligned public enemy in the span of a few hours is quite an impressive feat, and for long-time critics of Orion this has been a case of many prodigal chickens coming home to roost.
Meanwhile, Activision hasn’t said a word, and considering Trek hasn’t so much shot itself in the foot as blasted its own leg off with a bazooka, I can understand why.