this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2026
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I'm a dev who has been working on my game for 2 years and my game title got stolen on Steam and they plan to release before I do. What should I do? (lemmy.world)
submitted 21 hours ago by Road_Warrior_10@lemmy.world to c/games@lemmy.world
74 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I have been working for over 2 years on my game and 4 months ago I finally released my demo. Yesterday, while searching on Steam I found a game with EXACTLY the same title and very similar premise. The page was created in May or June 2026 and they aim to release in August 2026. Here are some of descriptions I use on my Steam page:

  • A first-person psychological thriller with a heavy atmosphere and elements of liminal horror.

  • Uncover the stories of your subjects by studying their personal items and darkest secrets before making life-or-death choices.

  • Will you sacrifice your own beliefs to obey HIS authority?

For comparison here is how they describe their game:

"Will you obey orders, or resist? In this first-person psychological horror game, you sit across from subjects and must investigate evidence to determine who is telling the truth, and decide their fate."

My game is planned to release in October or whenever it's completely playtested and polished. I'm not sure what I can do as this has never happened before, what do you think is my best course of action here?

For reference my game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2719670/The_Milgram_Experiment

And the copy: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4777470/The_Milgram_Experiment/

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[–] toofpic@lemmy.world 0 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

The trademark question is the strongest - the name can absolutely be protected, especially if there are multiple timestamps everywhere (you posting about it, git, steam, your assets with the game's name, whatever).
If your game was in some developer's area on Steam for a long time, just go and write to them right now, explaining the stolen name situation. If it's not like this, the name issue can be resolved in court in your favour, and you have a case.
But speaking of the game mechanics, story, or anything like that, it's hard or impossible to prove anything, so you can only rely on your game being better and attracting more people. You do what you do, and the "thief" will give up eventually

[–] Road_Warrior_10@lemmy.world 5 points 20 hours ago (1 children)

Thank you! Yeah I don't think I have the right to complain about similar gameplay. Let them do what they do, It was just interesting how similar it sounds, but having the exact same name is a problem. I was just in an indie fest and someone might see my trailer but then find their game instead. This is the part that I don't like

[–] toofpic@lemmy.world 1 points 15 hours ago

I mean, large software developers are fighting over game mechanics, but they have salaried legal teams, and general need to "not look weak" in terms of protecting their IP. On your scale, I would only take sure-shots, such as protecting your IP's name on basis of using it long before someone else.
Just in case, I'm not a legal specialist, but I have some general knowledge on this (some from uni, some from working in marketing agencies who create and develop brands, naming, copy, for others)