We do often include affiliate links to earn us some pennies. See more here.

7 Days To Die Taken Down From Steam

By - | Views: 26,552
7 Days To Die is a promising looking zombie survival and crafting game that was kickstarted and will head to Linux, sadly Tripwire Interactive the makers behind Killing Floor filed a claim against them.

Here is a problem with games that purchase assets from others, in this case the 7 Days To Die developers purchased models from the Unity store which were ripped from Killing Floor, the 7 Days developers didn't act quick enough and so Tripwire filed against them to have them removed from Steam until they remove Tripwires IP.

An interesting story that does highlight a problem, how do you know when buying assets to make a game that the "creators" actually made them?

Only recently I made a post on developers relying too heavily on Unity as an engine, now this highlights a problem with it's store.

Sidenote: I think Unity is great though for Linux gaming, I am not against it at all I am just highlighting issues.

Here is what the developers of 7 Days To Die had to say on their forum:
QuoteHi guys.

As some of you may have noticed there was a DMCA Takedown request filed on steam and currently our page has been banned.
We're working to sort this out and are actively dealing with the lawyers and such to have the issue resolved.
Long story short a model was sold on the Unity Store that we purchased which should not have been released on the Unity Store.

We'll be releasing an update with the asset remove soon.

As for the Steam ban we're working with them to have this issue resolved as well.

A small little update on the upcoming content update. We're working hard to get everything finished and stable for release. We're hoping to release very soon if everything goes as planned (fingers crossed) In the mean time I would like to apologize for all the waiting you guys are having for this update. Please try bare with us though. It'll be worth the wait.

As always, thank you for your continued support and understanding.

Love from Grimmycakes

Source

You can bet this will delay the Linux release a bit further which probably wasn't going to be until next year anyway.

What do you guys make of all this then? Sound off in the comments! Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
Tags: Editorial
0 Likes
About the author -
author picture
I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
See more from me
The comments on this article are closed.
13 comments
Page: 1/2»
  Go to:

Half-Shot Oct 23, 2013
It's unfortunate that they ended up making a mistake like that and hopefully it won't destroy any relationships with Steam or Tripwire. I guess its just a misunderstanding but if i were the developers i would try to make as many of my own assets as possible and any gaps in ability could be purchased but they really should have made sure before they pushed for a release. I'm surprised it wasn't found sooner to be honest.

Unity might need some kind of certification system that the content pushed to their store is of the authors own in the future as its part responsibility of Unity to make sure content is legally allowed to be sold.
n30p1r4t3 11 years Oct 23, 2013
The game, on steam or not needs work. Performance is quite shaky on the mac alpha. 
HadBabits Oct 23, 2013
Hopefully, as been said, they talk it over like adults and things will get resolved.
Hamish Oct 23, 2013
This is not the first time I have seen copyrighted assets in resource packs or other such entities. A lot of people simply do not understand how copyright works, although in my opinion the blame really should be on Unity as the developers in this instance thought they were operating in good faith.
Anonymous Oct 23, 2013
Quoting: Quote from HamishThis is not the first time I have seen copyrighted assets in resource packs or other such entities. A lot of people simply do not understand how copyright works, although in my opinion the blame really should be on Unity as the developers in this instance thought they were operating in good faith.
Indeed, if there is someone to blame (and there is in my opinion) is Unity store, they must have a better control of the content they sell, 7 Days to Die developers acted in good faith, Tripware is totally right to protect their creation and Steam acted right too, this is only a little obstacle and I know that this situation will be resolved.
Hamish Oct 23, 2013
This reminds me of the counterfeit Lugaru sold on the iPhone app store - the blame for that really lied on Apple in my opinion, considering that they do vet all content they sell, but not for the benefit of the actual rights holder, apparently. Especially since in that instance Apple dragged its heals when it came to removing the illegitimate version from the store.
entropy Oct 23, 2013
Quoting: Quote from Anonymous
Quoting: Quote from HamishThis is not the first time I have seen copyrighted assets in resource packs or other such entities. A lot of people simply do not understand how copyright works, although in my opinion the blame really should be on Unity as the developers in this instance thought they were operating in good faith.
Indeed, if there is someone to blame (and there is in my opinion) is Unity store, they must have a better control of the content they sell, 7 Days to Die developers acted in good faith, Tripware is totally right to protect their creation and Steam acted right too, this is only a little obstacle and I know that this situation will be resolved.

I agree partly.

IMHO this is not a good move from Tripwire considering the actual situation.
They should have contacted the 7 Days to Die developers to inform them 
about the issue to get this sorted out quickly, _without_ filing that claim against them. 
The replaced assets could be delivered with an update at a reasonable deadline set by Tripwire.

Instead, they should have taken legal action against Unity Technologies.
After all, that could have happened to Tripwire likewise.
Anonymous Oct 23, 2013
Can happen, not the first and not the last game where this happened. Unity can't possible check for IP on all the items in the store, sad for 7 Days to Die though.

I'm sure they'll get settled with TripWire and Steam for good.
John Gibson Oct 23, 2013
Quoting: Quote from entropy
Quoting: Quote from Anonymous
Quoting: Quote from HamishThis is not the first time I have seen copyrighted assets in resource packs or other such entities. A lot of people simply do not understand how copyright works, although in my opinion the blame really should be on Unity as the developers in this instance thought they were operating in good faith.
Indeed, if there is someone to blame (and there is in my opinion) is Unity store, they must have a better control of the content they sell, 7 Days to Die developers acted in good faith, Tripware is totally right to protect their creation and Steam acted right too, this is only a little obstacle and I know that this situation will be resolved.

I agree partly.

IMHO this is not a good move from Tripwire considering the actual situation.
They should have contacted the 7 Days to Die developers to inform them 
about the issue to get this sorted out quickly, _without_ filing that claim against them. 
The replaced assets could be delivered with an update at a reasonable deadline set by Tripwire.

Instead, they should have taken legal action against Unity Technologies.
After all, that could have happened to Tripwire likewise.
Hi all, I'm with Tripwire and just dropped in to comment. We actually did notify the 7 Days to Die developers months ago. We're not sure why months later our character asset, with full model and animation, are still in their game. That is why we had to issue the DMCA takedown notice. If they had removed the character months ago it wouldn't have been a problem.
Anonymous Oct 23, 2013
Quoting: Quote from John Gibson
Quoting: Quote from entropy
Quoting: Quote from Anonymous
Quoting: Quote from HamishThis is not the first time I have seen copyrighted assets in resource packs or other such entities. A lot of people simply do not understand how copyright works, although in my opinion the blame really should be on Unity as the developers in this instance thought they were operating in good faith.
Indeed, if there is someone to blame (and there is in my opinion) is Unity store, they must have a better control of the content they sell, 7 Days to Die developers acted in good faith, Tripware is totally right to protect their creation and Steam acted right too, this is only a little obstacle and I know that this situation will be resolved.

I agree partly.

IMHO this is not a good move from Tripwire considering the actual situation.
They should have contacted the 7 Days to Die developers to inform them 
about the issue to get this sorted out quickly, _without_ filing that claim against them. 
The replaced assets could be delivered with an update at a reasonable deadline set by Tripwire.

Instead, they should have taken legal action against Unity Technologies.
After all, that could have happened to Tripwire likewise.
Hi all, I'm with Tripwire and just dropped in to comment. We actually did notify the 7 Days to Die developers months ago. We're not sure why months later our character asset, with full model and animation, are still in their game. That is why we had to issue the DMCA takedown notice. If they had removed the character months ago it wouldn't have been a problem.

I see. That's a different story.
Thank you for clarifying that matter.
While you're here, please consider supporting GamingOnLinux on:

Reward Tiers: Patreon. Plain Donations: PayPal.

This ensures all of our main content remains totally free for everyone! Patreon supporters can also remove all adverts and sponsors! Supporting us helps bring good, fresh content. Without your continued support, we simply could not continue!

You can find even more ways to support us on this dedicated page any time. If you already are, thank you!
The comments on this article are closed.