Posted in: Games, Indie Games, Video Games | Tagged: Angela Games, Myth Of Empires

Myth Of Empires Developer Attempts Lawsuit To Get Back On Steam

Angela Game, the developers behind Myth of Empires, are trying to get their game back on Steam through the legal system. If you're not familiar with the situation, Steam removed the sandbox strategy title from their store after the platform received a DMCA takedown request. The request was filed by Studio Wildcard and Snail Games, the publisher and developer (respectfully) of Ark: Survival Evolved. The focus of their claim was based on the allegation that the source code for MoE was based on their source code for Ark, claiming that a former employee of Snail Games stole it before leaving the company to eventually form their own studio. On December 9th, Angela Game filed a complaint against both companies in court denying the allegations and requesting the DMCA takedown request be lifted, claiming that the content they are citing in the code is not copyrightable.

According to PC Gamer, Wildcard and Snail are firing back against the lawsuit, here's a snippet from their report.

Earlier this week, Snail Games and Studio Wildcard filed a detailed response saying that Angela Game "has come nowhere close to justifying any relief, in any form," and re-alleging—in much greater detail—what it describes as the "brazen theft of Snail USA and Wildcard's intellectual property."

"Angela's misconduct began in November 2018, when Yang Li Ping, an employee of Snail USA's parent in China (Snail Game), requested and received access to Ark's source code—for seemingly legitimate reasons," the filing states. "But he secretly copied the source code, and a few months later, left to work at Angela."

Yang was not alone in this endeavor, according to the suit: "Of the 82 persons whose names appear in the screen credits for Angela's game, 60 are Snail Game ex-employees." The filing also claims that, since the DMCA takedown request was made, Angela Game has been "frantically modifying the code" of Myth of Empires to remove evidence of copying.

For the time being, the game remains off Steam, but Angela Game is saying they are still developing the title with more content to come as soon as they are able to put it back online. But without an official court decision, that may be several months to a year in the works, if a judge sides with them.

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