The Orion Project is once again available on Steam after its removal from Steam over allegations of copyright theft. Developer Trek Industries found itself on the defensive earlier this week when Valve removed their game from sale, responding to a DMCA takedown notice by Activision claiming that several guns from Orion were stolen from more than one Call of Duty title.
Trek Industries initially denied the claim, threatening legal action against Activision and calling their DMCA notice illegal. The developer later retracted their claims once comparisons surfaced of the guns in question, announcing that the artist responsible has been fired and that they would be complying with Activision’s complaint.
Orion can be found on Steam for a discount during the Steam sale.
Fraudster:
2a: a person who is not what he or she pretends to be :impostor;
Support game developers who support their fans, otherwise why even bother showing up? Orion is the latest and a special episode in our Crowdfunding Fraudster series, covering the game Orion and its developer Trek Industries. Trek Industries is a special case because they have the gall to tell it like it is. In a way, they’re a bit like Donald Trump.
Just because Trek Industries is facing potential litigation from Activision won’t stop them from publicly referring to the company as “ass-wiping turds.”
I can’t believe that there are gamers who are defending the money-abusing,???-wiping turds that is Activision who walks all over gamers with annual $60 releases, season passes, $15 map packs, doesn’t involve or listen to them in any way.
Without retelling the story all over again, Trek Industries’ game Orion was pulled from Steam following a DMCA complaint from Activision that the game steals assets from Call of Duty. You can read our coverage of that here, but no matter your opinion of Activision, it’s quite clear that they have the legal upper hand.
This is normally the part where I’d comment on the description in the Indiegogo campaign, however Trek Industries has conveniently made no mention of their recent troubles. You have to look into the ‘updates’ tab if you want to see the responses copied and pasted from various social media pages. If you look at the Indiegogo page, you’d think that this was just another in-development game seeking funding.
But why does the campaign truly exist? I’ll let Trek Industries explain:
We will be starting a crowdfunding event later today. This is to cover:
1. what we are missing out on the largest event.
2. the damages we’ve taken on from Activision.
As of yesterday, Activision cut out 70% of our profit. My calculations put it at 90% today. What they did is devastating.
So since Activision shut down Orion’s Steam store page, and thus their ability to reap in that sweet Steam Summer Sale money, Trek Industries is going to have their own summer sale. With blackjack, and hookers. A successful crowdfunding campaign at that because, if you look at our header image, all $500 has already been recouped, and by one donor even!
Who is this generous fellow?
Oh. In preparation for the future In Plain English column, Trek Industries was kind enough to present us with the documentation that they’ve been contacted by an outside litigation counsel representing Activision. The firm is Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp LLP.
For his part, Tek Industries’ own David James is claiming that Activision has not sent him any details on what they want removed from Orion, making it impossible to know what the DMCA is targeting.
“The problem is that they’ve never stated, both originally and to this moment as I type this, what content offended them. Not a text description, not even an image. This was not only able to take the game down but it sets a precedent that is illegal for DMCA takedown usage.”
Given recent threats by Trek Industries against the press, and numerous attempts to dodge questions regarding weapons, MMO Fallout has opted to not contact Trek Industries regarding this story. MMO Fallout is attempting to contact Activision’s retainer and will update with any further information. We have also contacted Indiegogo in regards to certain aspects of the campaign.
Totalbiscuit covered a previous scandal from Trek Industries, including allegations of impromptu firings, astroturfing, and re-releasing their game under new names to dodge poor reviews.
Orion developer David James is threatening a counter-suit after a DMCA takedown notice from Activision resulted in Orion being removed from sale on Steam during one of the larger sales of the year. The takedown notice alleges that Orion stole assets from Call of Duty: Black Ops III and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare.
James has uploaded his own comparisons of the weapons in Orion to the weapons in Call of Duty, but the truth seems to go a bit deeper. Community members have been creating their own comparisons that show a more damning story.
The allegations against Orion would be more surprising if this were the first time that the developer had been accused of content theft, and it isn’t. Spiral Game Studios has been the focus of numerous scandals in the course of its existence. Their previous title, Orion: Dino Beatdown was alleged to use stolen assets from several games. In his responses, James conduct readily slips into immature schoolyard banter (emphasis mine).
We need everyones 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 so we can get back to work on real content, something that Activision should take note of.
What Activision is claiming isn’t a valid or legal use of DMCA. If they were alleging that we had actually RIPPED the Black Ops 3 weapons FROM their game and used them exactly – their shipped meshes, their shipped textures – that is a DMCA case. And the fact that they made an artist feel this way when it’s ALL they do is absolute crap.
On a side note: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act criminalizes production of technology that circumvents digital rights management. Title II of the DMCA provides limited liability for content hosts if they respond to a takedown notice and remove said offending material within a certain period of time. James is incorrect in his statement that DMCA is not valid in this case.
Alternately, you can check out Orion’s original character: Bloba Fett (not his actual name). And yes, the name of the video is Every Man’s Sky, a polar opposite of that game No Man’s Sky. You may have even noticed the name of the developer, Trek Industries.
When it comes to copyright, the law is very lenient when it comes to ‘real’ things. You can’t sue for making similar looking trees, for instance. In regards to inventions that don’t have any real world counterpart, the law is more strict. The Orion gun, shown below, appears to be cobbled together out of several Black Ops 3 weapons.
The case appears to be open and shut, however we will have to see how Trek Industries responds and whether or not Activision decides to push this into a full lawsuit.
MMO Fallout 
