Indie dev says Steam’s blocking their game for IP infringement, even though it’s their own IP

A Japanese indie game developer says Steam is currently blocking their game because it infringes on intellectual property – the problem is, that IP also belongs to the developer.

Developer Daikichi is currently working on Wired Tokyo 2007, a “3D vertical action game” where players have to climb upwards into the skies above Tokyo, but also have to deliberately dive off the edge at times in order to progress.

The developer was planning to release a demo of the game on Steam, but has now revealed on X (as spotted by Game Spark) that the demo has been blocked by Steam because it may infringe on “intellectual property from third parties”.

In this case, however, Daikichi says the IP being referred to isn’t third-party, but also belongs to them, meaning they’re now stuck in a situation where they don’t know how to prove to Steam that no infringement has taken place.

According to the message they received from Steam, the IP being infringed on includes “dinosaur themed card games shown in the environment within your app in gameplay”.

This apparently refers to Dinostone, a dinosaur-themed trading card game that was released by Daikichi in 2023, and now appears in Wired Tokyo as a nod to the developer’s previous projects.

Steam’s message says Daikichi now has to provide “reasonable assurances” that the IP isn’t being infringed upon, which “could take the form of license agreements, or a legal opinion from your attorney analysing the intellectual property issues and explaining why you don’t need licenses”. “Without such assurances,” Steam adds, “we don’t plan to ship your app”.

Daikichi says they’re now stuck, because Dinostone was published online under their Daikichi name, instead of their real name. “Where on Earth can I find an official document that legally proves I own the rights to a board game I published online under a pseudonym?” they asked on X (via machine translation).

They also say getting a legal opinion from an attorney isn’t a viable solution because they’re only a small indie developer and can’t afford the costs. “So basically, all I have to do is hire a lawyer and submit a legal opinion letter?” they asked. “Where’s that kind of money supposed to come from with an indie game budget?”

In an attempt to resolve the issue, Daikichi says they have now “created a signed document stating that I grant myself permission to use all of my original works, including the board games I’ve created, and resubmitted it for review”, adding: “Well, I hope this works.”