this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2026
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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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[–] stegosaur@lemmy.world 3 points 4 hours ago

Yours looks way better, one small criticism that may be easy to adjust but could also just be the visual style you want: most surfaces look way too glossy and reflective.

While it's nice to have detailed reflections, things like the wall tiles just seem nearly like mirrors when it comes to light reflections. There's no diffusion. Maybe the face masks could stay as glossy, but I would diffuse/dull the rest a bit. The ceramic tile but especially the padded room. Padded room tiles would be fabric so there really shouldn't be any gloss and very little reflection.

I hope you don't take that the wrong way, and I think your game will stand out as far superior to the copy

[–] j4yc33@piefed.social 4 points 4 hours ago

I have played the demo for your game, and while I don't know if you can fight this, you'll deffo be getting at least one sale!

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

Happened to bigger outfits. There is this board game "Settlers of Catan", which should have been "Settlers" originally, until a computer game of that name got released just before they launched.

[–] HubertManne@piefed.social 1 points 4 hours ago

I never knew that. It was such a mainstay with fen and I have played it so much.

[–] borth@sh.itjust.works 8 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I wish listed your game, I've been following it for some time, looks a lot better than the copy. I don't think that copy will sell as much, and if you keep promoting and talking about it the way you already are, I think it'd be clear which one is the rip off.

I think it'd be a good idea to give keys to some streamers to show the game. I might tell a few steamers to stream this, it seems like it would be fun to do this with an audience.

[–] Road_Warrior_10@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

Yeah, thank you! I am already sending my demo to streamers and of course when the full game is out I will send keys too

[–] alakey@piefed.social 7 points 6 hours ago

You didn't come up with the name and it's perfectly realistic to imagine more than 1 person coming up with a similar idea based on the same concept. Even if someone "stole" your idea - do it better than them and you'll have nothing to worry about. I'd be more understanding of your concern if a big AAA studio happened to make this release so close to yours, but even then not much you can do due to aforementioned reasons. And while Steam lets you use any name you want, even if it's already taken, it will put your game first on the search list if more people interact with it, which will naturally happen if your game is good.

[–] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 8 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

You'll need to add onto your tile, to distinguish it from the rip-off version, so people know.

And, doing what you're doing here, getting the word out.

You'll be fine.

[–] Road_Warrior_10@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago
[–] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 17 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Unless you trademark the title you can’t do anything about it. And an international trademark cost a lot of money.

I wouldn’t worry too much about it. The copy doesn’t look like a game that can compete. It looks very barebones. The Steam algorithm will bury this game because it won’t sell. You probably gave this game more publicity than it ever got before. Just focus on your own game the more wishlists you get the more the algorithm will push your game to customers and they will never see the copy.

[–] Road_Warrior_10@lemmy.world 8 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Thank you! Yeah I'm not sure my name can be trademarked, but just not worth the money spent. However I assumed Steam had a system that prevented using the exact same title

[–] ober@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 8 hours ago

Unfortunately not. Just look up "SCP Containment Breach" or even just "SCP" on Steam and you'll see a whole mess of duplicates.

[–] rtxn@lemmy.world 50 points 13 hours ago (17 children)

It's been adjudicated before: you can't. It's the reason PUBG and Fortnite can coexist even though Epic completely ripped off PUBG after helping develop the game. It's also why the "DOOM clone" genre was allowed to proliferate into the FPS genre, why there are so many FNAF-inspired games, and why Nintendo recently lost one of its Pokémon patents. You don't own the concept of the Milgram experiment, you don't own the trademark for the name, and the overall gameplay concept is not subject to copyright. Unless you can prove that the other developer stole code or art assets from you, or that it violated a trademark or patent that you own, there's nothing you can do but hope that the better product wins in the end.

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[–] lankydryness@lemmy.world 5 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

I wish listed yours so hopefully that helps the algorithm a tiny little bit

[–] Road_Warrior_10@lemmy.world 1 points 5 hours ago

Oh wow! Thank you!

[–] daggermoon@piefed.world 4 points 8 hours ago

I'm excited to play your game, not some shitty clone. I've seen this happen with another indie horror game that I can't remember the name of. I don't have a solution unfortunately. As long as yours comes up first in search than you shouldn't have anything to worry about anyway.

[–] one_old_coder@piefed.social 23 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I guess it's too late to change the name of the game, but when you think about it, the "clone" is a shitty game that won't get a lot of downloads if any. I'm only a gamer, but your whole Steam page is way more enticing.

You could create a small website with links to the Steam page (and Bluesky and Twitter...) as a reference. The other guy won't waste more time on his project. I saw your Posts history on Lemmy, and you have a lot of upvotes and conversations about that game, it's something that the clone guy cannot reproduce easily, he would be roasted very fast if he tried that.

[–] Road_Warrior_10@lemmy.world 5 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Thank you for the kind words! Do you mean too late for me to change the name?

[–] one_old_coder@piefed.social 16 points 13 hours ago

Yes, too late to change the name, but it's a stupid idea, you have way more momentum and hype than the other guy. Don't bother about him.

[–] Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Make it easy on yourself

Find a new name for your game

[–] DannyMac@sh.itjust.works 6 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

"The Millgram Experiment: The Best One"

[–] rustydrd@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 hours ago

The Milgram Experiment 2: Electric (Shock) Boogaloo

[–] bryndos@fedia.io 9 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

https://steamcommunity.com/dmca/create

But be warned that it might tie up both games in bureaucracy. You might hope that steam has the timestamps readily available to prove the sequence of events - though I'm a bit skeptical of cloud storage about that stuff. So you might want your own evidence from your own storage.

It'd be good to try to find someone who has gone through it on steam, and of course a lawyer, if you can afford it.

[–] Road_Warrior_10@lemmy.world 3 points 13 hours ago

Hello, I think it's too early for lawyers and also... way too expensive

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[–] tanisnikana@lemmy.world 7 points 12 hours ago

I added yours to my wishlist, though I don’t intend to play it cause horror doesn’t sit well with me on account of how I’m a giant wuss but I still support artists, and I put theirs on my ignore list.

[–] EmpathicVagrant@lemmy.world 6 points 13 hours ago (2 children)

All I know is yours actually looks good. Theirs feels like one of those minis where it has 1/10th the heart and the whole fascist democracy ‘be a good citizen’ thing in theirs is trying to tap into something helldivers made popular for a surge and didn’t even do well. I’ll be getting your game when it drops if I can, but theirs isn’t interesting.

[–] classic@fedia.io 3 points 12 hours ago

fr. the difference in quality is stark

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[–] myster0n@feddit.nl 3 points 11 hours ago

Maybe you can rename your game to something like "Obey him : The Milgram Experiment". Not the other way round because then it looks like a sequel to the other game

[–] SynonymousStoat@lemmy.world 5 points 13 hours ago (7 children)

You could maybe make a trademark complaint against them if you have been using the name of your game publically before they have, which from your steam page already existing I would assume you've been using it publicly for at least a little while now. As to how you would go about making such a complaint, I don't know what to do other than talking with a lawyer if Steam doesn't have any sort of option. This all assumes you live in the USA, if you're in another country different options may or may not exist.

[–] SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world 4 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

But that requires trademarking the name. Unlike copyright you don’t get that for free by law it cost a ton of money to get an international trademark.

[–] SynonymousStoat@lemmy.world 1 points 2 hours ago

In the US you have some protections automatically just by using the name publically. Of course you'd have a much stronger case if you have it registered, but I have a feeling with a name this specific it would be a little easier especially given that the product is incredibly similar as well. Technically the trademark could still be registered and you may even have to provide evidence that you were using the name at an earlier date, which the steam page would help a lot with.

[–] insomniac_lemon@lemmy.cafe 5 points 11 hours ago* (last edited 11 hours ago)

Not a lawyer, but if you put the name into wikipedia it redirects to the historical event both games are based on/inspired by. It's a generic name, I can't imagine a side being picked here (both change or neither change).

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[–] pasdechance@jlai.lu 1 points 9 hours ago

Your game looks considerably better.

I would not want my work to be confused with another's.

Even so, a non-litigious option is to contact the dev to propose a bundle.

The "Experiments" Bundle?

[–] frank@sopuli.xyz 3 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

Let me just say your game looks awesome and I look forward to its release.

I think you should report it to steam, you've surely had a page with that name for longer. I wouldn't change your game name now

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