Last week, Activision executives, Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford issued what we believe to be false DMCA notices to GOG and Valve claiming to own elements of the new Star Control: Origins game.

Reiche and Ford, who are best known for running the studio that works on Skylanders and Spyro the Dragon Reignited, had DMCA'd the beta of Star Control: Origins last Summer despite providing us with no specifics as to what, if anything, they believe they own in our game.  

Shortly before launch, Stardock sought a restraining order to prevent the two from making DMCA claims against Star Control: Origins to prevent its September release.  

As you can imagine, after developing the game for five years and only learning at the 11th hour that Reiche and Ford believed that they own ideas that are common in many games, including ones that obviously preceded Star Control II, the game that they designed over twenty-five years ago, delaying the release of our game was not a viable option.  We pointed out that such a delay in our release would result in significant harm.  

The court ultimately ruled in December that the court does not have the right to prevent Reiche and Ford from sending out DMCA notices.  On New Year's Eve, Reiche and Ford wasted no time sending DMCA notices to GOG and Valve who, per policy, removed the titles for sale.

Reiche and Ford did finally post a table listing a series of ideas they apparently believe they own (or at best, own if you use all of them).

This is a copy of their chart.  I want to emphasize that this is their chart and their apparent argument is that if a game has all these things in common that they feel justified in doing whatever is in their power to pull it from sale.

Again: This is their chart.  This is the chart they voluntarily posted to justify getting Star Control: Origins removed from sale.

The DMCA was designed to simplify the process of taking down copyrighted material (movies, music, etc.).   If you're a gamer or a game developer, Reiche and Ford's use of the DMCA like this should concern you.

Let's take a look at the two screenshots posted above with their actual resolution:

vs.

Putting aside the numerous functional differences between the two games in their space exploration systems as well as any debate on the legal arguments consider the games you play right now and what would be the effect if the above two, obviously different, games were actually considered similar enough to warrant being removed from sale.

Think of the first person shooters, fighting games, RPG games, MMOs, MOBAs, etc. you have played or are playing right now and consider the consequences if the threshold of similarity between two games was now set to need t o be greater than the above two screenshots.

Then consider that our game was taken down without due process.  Reiche and Ford, despite being Bay Area millionaires, actually set up a GoFundMe to "defend" themselves have since filed lawsuits against GOG and Valve.  

The merits of this case haven't been heard yet. In fact, the case is still in the discovery phase, it'll be months before the merits are heard.  In the meantime, because of the way the DMCA system works, the games are likely to remain off of GOG and Steam for the duration. 

In other words, our competitor, who has no shipping title, used the DMCA to remove a competing title for sale without having to demonstrate any merit to their claim.  In fact, not only have they not been found to have had any merit to their claim, but as the table is shown above, if their position had any merit, it would be a catastrophe for gamers and game developers.  Consider the ramifications of how a AAA publisher might use the DMCA tool to prevent future competitors from entering the market.

How can you help?

First, spread the word.  Make sure people know about what has happened there. Thankfully, Stardock is diversified enough that we've only had to lay off a few people as a result but imagine what would happen to an indie who makes a game that is just as or more similar to what you see above.   #freestarcontrol 

Second, become aware. How many other games could fall under this.  Imagine if Torchlight or Fornite or any number of other games that share superficial similarities had been DMCA'd? 

Third, don't let it be ideological. Regardless of your politics, this is an issue that affects all creators.  Not just game developers.  The issue here is that an entirely new creative work was DMCA'd.  If you make something and put it out there and someone thinks they have rights to it, regardless of how dubious their argument is, there is a mechanism for that: the courts.  

What's next?

You can still get Star Control: Origins from us directly at www.starcontrol.com. We are selling it for 50% off to encourage people to buy direct.  

We are working on v1.4 and we are on schedule for our next DLC release that is part of the Earth Rising Season Pass.   

The Linux version is coming along which helps us with our Vulkan work to bring it to other platforms.

Obviously, not having it available on other digital distribution platforms is hindering our work to bring you new Star Control games.  We are confident of the eventual outcome of the dispute but in the meantime, not having our newest major title widely available for sale is not helpful.

In the meantime, #freestarcontrol www.starcontrol.com.  

Thank you for your support!