Stalker Dev Gsc Game World Dmca'd A Stalker-inspired Indie Off...

Misery, not to be confused with the Stalker mod, is currently unavailable for purchase on Steam.

On Friday, the indie dev behind co-op survival horror shooter Misery uploaded a post to its Steam community hub page with an image of a crying cat as its header. Titled "We are under attack!", the post outlines something you may have noticed if you've played the game or tried to buy it today: it's been delisted from Steam following a DMCA strike initiated by Stalker developer GSC Game World.

The post features screenshots of an email from Valve sent to Misery's 19-year-old, largely solo developer Maewing, and publisher Ytopia. It states that GSC Game World reported Misery for "use of [its] game content without [its] authorization" and includes a handful of screenshots showing similar scenes from both games, two of which show a group of survivors with scavenged gear and gas masks playing a guitar by a campfire.

We have reached out to GSC Game World for comment, and will update this article if we hear back.

As a complete layperson when it comes to the legal details of copyright infringement, it really seems like this claim is going off vibes more than anything. The email notes that the screenshots are only there for illustrative purposes and don't show all the infringing assets, but you'd think GSC Game World would go for something more damning than a couple of scenes that, while superficially similar, don't seem to use the same models or textures.

Misery's Steam community blog post argues the developer's case: "We do not pose any threat to GSC or their IP, we do not compete with their games, nor do we use any of their IP. Of course, Misery was inspired by many things, including games, movies, and books, but filing a DMCA strike for that is wrong. We also want to remind GSC that their games draw heavily from Roadside Picnic and the Stalker movie by Tarkovsky, and they do not own the copyright on depressive Soviet-era buildings, playing guitar, vodka, radiation, or abandoned locations, or even the poo.

"Misery uses no characters, plot, storyline, assets, monsters, music, code, etc., from their games. It is all either originally created or legally licensed. We also think that this is an abuse of power against small independent developers by a large corporation, and it should not be a thing."

Developer Maewing allegedly shared a far less diplomatic first reaction on the game's Discord. Reddit user AcceptableAttitude13 posted a screenshot Friday on the Stalker

Source: PC Gamer