Misery Removed from Steam after DMCA Request from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Developer

In a Steam post on November 8, Platypus put out a statement titled “We are under attack!” It included screenshots of a DMCA email from Steam and detailed how the game’s page had been taken down at GSC’s behest. The screenshots in the email compare images from Misery’s store page, including one of players at a campfire with a banjo, with similar scenes from S.T.A.L.K.E.R. These images show how stark the difference between the realism of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. and the low-poly style of Misery are, bringing into question what exactly GSC believes is being infringed upon.

Although this seems cut-and-dry, our only source for the details of the takedown are from the screenshots of the email shared by Platypus that appear to be reformatted and edited. Furthermore, lead developer Maewing has been vitriolic in response to the takedown in the game’s community Discord server, referring to GSC as “gay” and “[r-slur],” as noted by PC Gamer. The team’s public statement urged fans to not review-bomb or harass GSC, but more privately, passions seem to be flaring. Various screenshots from the server indicating support for Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine have also surfaced, although these have not been verified thanks to alleged message deletion in the server following the takedown request bringing greater attention to it.

Regardless of the developers’ response, with several games heavily inspired by S.T.A.L.K.E.R. in the last two decades, we have to wonder what exactly motivated this copyright claim, and where it could lead.