Stolen indie games surfaced on GameStop’s NFT marketplace
The outdated video games retailer GameStop continues to struggle to survive. after that stock market drama from last year gave the company an upswing, the executive floor came up with new ideas. So they decided to have one of their own NFT marketplace to open. Since then, one tastelessness has followed the other. First became one Released adaptation of image showing 9/11 victim sold on the platform. It has now emerged that stolen indie games were also being distributed. What happened?
GameStop distributes stolen indie games
A user named Nathan Ello sold the “NiFty Arcade Collection” on GameStop’s NFT Marketplace. With this action, Ello earned 8.4 ETH, converted $14,000. According to one Ars Technica report he lacked permission to use them at all in at least two games. In addition, the seller did not have permission to use the PICO 8 engine, which is used in all five games in the collection.
Ultimately, NiFTy Arcade was removed from the marketplace and Nathan Ello’s account was suspended. But the way NFTs work allows buyers to do it keep playing the unlicensed games. In the meantime, Ello has raised its arcade collection on another marketplace. This time with new games and supposedly with all the necessary licenses.
Developers are pissed off
The developer of the arcade game Galactic Wars Botja de Tena does not find the action funny at all. “He just took my game and sold it. If you want to benefit from my work, I think I should at least be asked”said the indignant developer in an interview.
Another developer who was not asked for permission is Krystian Majewski. Rather, what bothers him is that his game Breakout Hero was “abused” for NFTs than the financial loss. “That’s where the real malevolence of NFT projects like this shows. It’s essentially ‘exploit before you ask’.”
Seller claims he didn’t know about it
The seller Nathan Ello claims on Twitter, at least in some cases he knew nothing about the copyright infringements. For example, Galactic Wars is listed as “unlicensed”. Ello offered all developers one Compensation for the damage caused to pay and is currently working on getting his GameStop account back.
Source: arstechnica, PC gamers
Reference-www.pcgames.de
