Video game publisher Activision has called upon Steam creator, Valve to remove "Orion" from the digital distributor because of a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown request that claims the game "uses weapon art content from 'Call of Duty: Black Ops 3' and 'Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.' The weapon art in question includes the M8A7 rifle, the Haymaker rifle, and the Bal-27 rifle."
According to Polygon, Trek Industries' David Prassel took to Steam Community to air his concerns, writing that no one from Steam, Valve, or Activision approached him about the copyright claim. He even uploaded images of the weapons in question, expressing his disappointment in the takedown, which occurred right when "Orion" was on sale for $0.49.
"Apparently no cross-checking was done by our Partner, who we've been with for over 5 years and I have seen better and would expect better from them," Prassel wrote. "At minimum, to contact us regarding our assets/defense before taking any action."
While Activision has not released any official statement about the takedown, Prassel continues to reach out to the community to ask for their support in getting "Orion" back on Steam. He wrote that the occurrence "put a definite scare" on his team, as they were not given any notice about the game being removed from Steam. He also posted an update claiming that he won't take legal action against Activision, but instead is ensuring that the company pays for the damages from removing the game during the sale and their "malicious and invalid claims" which are equivalent to slander and defamation.
"We need everyone's help and support to rectify this immediately as this erroneous claim has already costed what is a very small team a significant amount of money and we need it remedied ASAP," Prassel wrote, encouraging gamers and supporters to use the hashtag "#OrionNeedsYou."
Read Prassel's whole update at Steam.
