Tyson Butler-Boschma achieved what most independent game developers dream of when his game became a viral hit on social media this year.
Key points:
- Tyson Butler-Boschma’s free game was download hundreds of thousands of times and had millions of views
- Scammers took the game and were selling it on Steam, the largest video game marketplace
- A viral thread on Twitter resulted in the game being removed after two weeks of sales and industry veterans have called on online stores to do more
“A Superman Style Flight Experience” was a proof of concept built in just a single weekend, but it was shared widely on social media accumulating millions of views and hundreds of thousands of downloads.
That popularity unfortunately made it a target for scammers who uploaded and sold it on Steam, one of the biggest video games stores.
“About two weeks ago I got a message from someone that follows me online saying, ‘hey have you seen this game up on Steam? It looks like your game’,” Mr Butler-Boschma said.
“I went to check it out and thought that looks exactly like my game project, and the more I investigated it, I realised that it was exactly my game project.”
The sellers had taken the free project, renamed and removed a few files, then put it for sale at prices ranging between $16.50 and $60.
Mr Butler-Boschma was banned from the game’s discussion forum when he tried to warn people, so he bought the game, which allowed him to post a review.
In a bitter twist, the sellers then claimed Mr…
