
We've talked about copycats and scam games on the eShop many times — with a multitude of games using keywords and AI-generated screenshots and key art flooding the eShop, it's a huge problem for devs.
And now, the creative director of indie hit Unpacking has called Nintendo out on the lack of response to these games (via Eurogamer). Specifically, this follows on from a number of games and DLC sharing the same name as Witch Beam's beautiful puzzle game appearing on the eShop in late November.
Wren Brier has taken to Bluesky to voice her dissatisfaction with Nintendo, pointing out that these "egregious scams" — called Unpacking Universe Dreams, Unpacking: Deluxe Edition, and so on — are using "our trademarked game name" to trick customers.
And she's absolutely right. To the average person, the title alone suggests that these copycats are related to the 2021 pixel art game, but further digging reveals different game modes and some uninspired screenshots. It's not a good look for Nintendo.
As we reported last time, CGI LAB has published several games and DLC on the eShop, many of which fit the keyword criteria we mentioned above with others looking exceedingly generic. 17 days without a response is extremely frustrating, and we hope action will be taken soon.
At the time of writing, the games are still up on the North American and European eShop. In fact, the copycat came up first when we searched for Unpacking on the European one.
If you haven't already played Unpacking, then you should absolutely check it out — it's a beautiful, surprisingly emotional game. Go send your support to Witch Beam.
We've reached out to Nintendo and will update you if anything changes with these Unpacking clones.
[source bsky.app, via eurogamer.net]
Comments 49
Steam and PC gaming stores have this problem too. I would imagine Nintendo has A LOT of these copycat requests in their inbox. They should have a team managing it.
Hmm, interestingly so, Nintendo seems quite worried about Palworld as their a copycat game.
Lol.
I almost bought this unpacking copy, thought it was DLC, and I would say, as a potential customer, they definitely intended to mislead too.
@msvt The whole Palworld thing is complicated. It's more about Sony vs. Nintendo.
But, to your point, it does seem like Nintendo should have more empathy for those trying to protect their IP.
@montrayjak
Funny enough I support Nintendo crushing them, and all copycat'rs for that matter. console-wide policy would help them all not JUST Nintendo in their own fight with a very similar thing.
Blatant and frustrating deception. Nintendo’s hurting themselves in the long run by not even trying to hinder the flood of bullsh*t coming down the pipe on the eshop.
Nintendo doesn't care. That much has been clear for the lifespan of the eShop.
Not sure it's ideal seeing Nintendo take down games even if scam ones (what if they end up doing that to a legitimate game by mistake?) and I'd also like to see customers being more responsible by looking up games/whatever else before making purchases.
That said and unless by "responding" this developer means strictly taking action, Nintendo should've least responded as that's basic courtesy!
It’s not really Nintendo’s job to fight IP battles for others (legally it opens them up for liability if the reported game is legally distinct enough to remain. As people can just start reporting everything. Unless assets are being stolen usually it is safer for the store front owner to let the two companies fight it out) unless the storefront TOS is violated (I am assuming the copy games passed lot check). The best way to stop this is for the dev to take the offending dev to court. Same as Nintendo does when people rip them off.
But technically this is the free market at work. This is why it’s funny when folks get mad at Nintendo fighting rip offs and copycats (and leaks and hackers) simply because they have the money to do so. If it’s ok to rip off Nintendo and they have to sue to fix it then it’s ok to rip off any dev and they have to sue to fix it. Are folks gonna be this sympathetic if in 20 years time this dev blows up enough to become a large company? Will they then be the enemy? Also what if the copycat game is good? What if people wanna play it? (A reach but I have seen people defending folks that rip off big devs in the same manner) shouldn’t a consumer be able to buy a game in the market?
If Nintendo has to resolve this in court when it happens to them, then everyone should have to do the same. Perhaps some law firms can find a niche representing small devs? Why doesn’t this dev have some sort of retainer that can advise them of legal matters… that is small business 101. If the dev has copyright protection then it should be (depending on the strength of the copyright claim of course) a legal slam dunk. Email a lawyer, not Nintendo.
Also Nintendo is likely inundated with reports about these issues anyway. It’s the holiday season. Folks may not be in office in the branch the dev is emailing. Also this happens in every market on earth (including PC, PS and Xbox). Onus is primarily on the consumer to do research.
Edited for clarity.
A phrase-shaped title like "Unpacking Universe Dreams" can sound pretty legit (phrasing mileage aside, but we ARE talking the same market niche that gave us Racing In Car). The cases just so happening to use "Unpacking" alone with non-titular yet extra content-associated elements like "Deluxe Edition" or "Chill Music Pack" (the latter even uses a colon so you can't expect to unpack chill music packs at its gameplay core)... leave a whole different impression indeed.
It’s pretty clear the eShop was not designed with the thought of what happens when the floodgates open and anyone can dump whatever onto it. PlayStation and Xbox also have this problem it’s just better hidden.
the eshop is a scam nightmare.
I really don't understand why nintendo is not doing something about it.
it could be such a healthy platform for indies, if they would get rid of the scam crap
Nintendo are probably too busy trying to stop people downloading ROMs of games from twenty years ago that can’t be bought on any current platform to bother sorting things on their current storefront that has a real impact on current developers.
Is it only the Nintendo eShop this sort of thing happens on?
Of course the knockoffs are from an Eastern Europe dev/publisher.
@AmplifyMJ The PlayStation store has gotten pretty bad recently.
@msvt Agreed!!
No she's wrong. It has a different title. Nintendo is not going to do anything. Plus it's not a trademark or copywriten.
Remember when Nintendo gate-kept their eShops and they weren't filled with 99% crap?
Bring that back.
There are also so, so many dodgy publishers who repeatedly release "bundles" of the same old games just to essentially pin them at the top of the new releases.
@AmplifyMJ absolutely not as all store fronts have copy games. (And technically you could argue games that are similar are copy cats rather than in a genre which is why this has to be fought legally in the first place.) . But it’s free to blame the storefront and get publicity than actually using the legal system to defend their IP. Everyone wants to run a business but doesn’t look into what that entails. This dev should contact their lawyer and handle this issue legally. Then Nintendo can take court mandated action without fear of being sued themselves for gatekeeping.
Edited for clarity.
@Deviant-Dork
I usually wouldn't respond to this, but the title Unpacking is actually properly trademarked by the developer. Furthermore, at the cost of being pedantic, technically copyright is applied the moment content is created and shouldn't be conflated with the legal process of combatting infringement itself. However, in this case, it's the trademark that is seemingly being infringed upon, not the actual copyright of the content itself.
Removed - inappropriate
I was searching through the eShop randomly the other day, the store is just chock-full of games like this. Games that attempt to trick people into buying the wrong game, games lazily made using AI, or just plain slop. There's like 80 Trading Card Game Shop simulators and none of them are the official one. I understand they're technically not breaking any rules, but quality control has gone FAR out the window. Also it's not JUST the eShop, it's on the PlayStation and Xbox, every storefront now.
It's almost like there are multiple countries. Each with their own set of rules of how to deal with things like trademark or copyright. And if there were a company that operated though all these countries with a store front, I think talking to them after trying to file a lawsuit across these countries and getting nothing would hurt.
Luckily we live on Earth where there's only one set of rules everyone follows for these things...oh wait.
I can't even remember the last time I even browsed the eshop, it's easily the worst online store I've ever used. Sure the likes of Steam recieve as much rubbish as this does but there its far easier to filter out and the simple act of navigating it isn't a chore. Nintendo should be ashamed of themselves for what they've let their store become and I hope they do a far better job (or at least bother to even try) with whatever the Switch 2 has
@Ryu_Niiyama agreed and this sounds right to me. Its between the developers, Nintendo has nothing to do with this apart from removing the games from the store front should the origional Unpacking dev win a lawsuit asking for such action
The problem is deep rooted now. I know it was unpopular with Indie Devs at the time, but I really think they should have had a controlled flow onto the store from the start even if that meant some people got kept off unfairly.
Financially this open-sewer approach is better (hence Steam, App Store, Xbox, PlayStation and Nintendo all do it), and it lets indie devs publish without the arbitrary walls they often complained about before these stores arrived, which is mostly a good thing for freedom to publish.
However it’s completely tainted all app stores/eShops now. It would take years to go through and clean out the dross they have even if they started to monitor each game upload properly (which would inevitably lead to a limited number of “spaces” for indie devs to upload games each year). And every week they don’t do it the bigger the underlying issue gets.
Personally I think it’s fine for Nintendo to vet what games get published. There would be some crap and some good games would get kept off. But the eShop as is just feels awful and dodgy.
Nintendo, start treating your partners right today, or risk losing them tomorrow.
My most wanted Switch 2 feature isn’t more horsepower it’s an end to all this worthless shovelware on the eShop.
“It’s absurd,” said Brier. “The only thing close to an apology I’ve gotten was last Tuesday when I received a $25 gift card to Chili’s in the mail. It had a note scribbled on it, from Shinya Takahashi, that said, ‘Sorry for the weird games. Please enjoy this.’”
@Ryu_Niiyama @ButterySmooth30FPS thanks for your respective replies, I didn’t think so, something about this article and the developer was bothering me, ‘It's not a good look for Nintendo.’ I was thinking, surely this is not isolated to Nintendo, and now I’m better informed, thanks again
It would be nice to see Nintendo take a stand but I won't hold my breath as this is rampant everywhere. I feel sorry for casual searchers if the eShop, cause those of us who know steer clear of these games and go straight to the good stuff.
My how the mighty have fallen. What ever happened to Nintendo's seal of quality? Shameful Nintendo very very shameful.
That's one reason I don't browse the eShop the amount of shovelware that one has to sift through just to find a quality game. Come on Nintendo your better then this.
lol seal of quality, as if that ever had anything to do with quality rather than Nintendo just controlling the means of production under the marketing guise of premium product. Brilliant on their part since people still equate it to actual quality when there was so much garbage on the NES proudly holding that seal. Nintendo listened to people complaining it was too hard to get anything on the eshop and this is what happens. There's probably a happy medium but it's never going to be worth their time to police everyone's IP on the eshop, least of all a tiny indie game with a generic title. Someone who can't do a minute of research before buying a game is a fool and their money, plain and simple.
Personal responsibility is dead on the internet. Do your research before you buy anything.
Why are they messaging Nintendo and not sending CGI Labs a Cease & Desist?
I agree the clone shouldn't be there and the eShops a nightmare. But really it's not on Nintendo to police other people's copyrights and trademarks for them.
Our long lost brother Jon just did a great video on this a couple weeks ago. It’s honestly insane that this sorts of crap is allowed to flood the eshop. They HAVE to fix this for Switch 2.
Complains about clones while using a website that is a blatant copy of Elon Musk's X.
If Nintendo are allowed to put themselves in the position of deciding what does and doesn't constitute a 'good' game, rather than just a 'playable' one on their platforms is that really a road we want to start down? Sounds great in principle until they use that power to deny competitors a fair slice of the pie. I fully agree the eshop is in desperate need of an overhaul and the company should probably be doing more to confront this sort of thing given their current reputation but I don't think it's as simple as Nintendo just being able to tell these clowns to naff off with their scamware.
@montrayjak Palworld has nothing to do with Sony beyond being released on its consoles.
I would be so mad if I were the dev.
I’m working on a game at the moment in my spare time and at this rate it would take years to complete and come to full fruition.
If someone copied my game name and concept and was trying to mislead and divert money I thought I should earn after all this hard work, I’d be livid, especially if no response was given by the owner of the shop.
I have no sympathy for the copy cats and I hope they receive the full business end of the law here. I also hope Nintendo does something, perhaps more proactively, with the new system. In the end though, every game that gets on the shop and every transaction that happens, Nintendo gets a cut I think, so I can’t see them being in a hurry to stifle that income.
They should take direct action against the company that ripped them off.
The Nintendo digital store is a trash pile.
If Big-N doesn't tackle this, they owe Palworld a huge apology.
Shameful that Nintendo is quick to sue people copying aspects their own games, but are all too happy to turn a blind eye (and get their cut) when someone else releases a pure clone of someone else's work on their platform. Truly an abysmal double standard.
@Bret Sony is behind Palworld. It's more complicated than you'd think.
https://youtu.be/8apzrwv75i0?si=pBsGzAOTHAef6rFh
@Sephazon not necessarily, the name of the game is not "Unpacking Universe Dreams" it's called "Unpacking".
Horizon Chase Turbo
Horizon Forbidden West
Horizon
Horizon's Gate
Horizon Walker
Forza Horizon
All different titles from their own separate developers.
@Xeacons @montrayjak in your mind they do? Ok good for you
@Deviant-Dork I don't understand what you mean.
They shouldn't even need to ask for this. Someone at Nintendo is putting these things on the eshop. That person has to be asking someone some questions. 🤨
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