Witch Beam, the creator of the popular indie gameUnpacking,is asking Nintendo to take down several fake games from the Switch eShop. These copycat games have similar names and designs, which they say trick customers into buying poor-quality products. This issue raises questions about how well Nintendo checks the quality of games and protects intellectual property on its platform.
Witch Beam has pointed out several games on the eShop that look and sound like its title, including one calledUnpacking: Universe Dreamsby a developer named CGI Lab. PerEurogamer,Witch Beam claims these games and their extra content are “egregious scams” that exploitUnpacking’s success and trademark.Italso claimedthat Nintendo hasn’t responded to reports about this situation for over two weeks, even though the copycat games are still available on the eShop. A similar case happened in 2022, leading to theremoval of a copycat game from the iOSand Google Play stores.
Scammers Are Using Unpacking Title To Trick Nintendo Customers
Copycat Games Plague the eShop
While many BlueSky users are commenting on thisUnpackingissue,Bobby Jack, in particular, makes a great point:“If it were a fan game that lovingly celebrated some Nintendo IP, it would be gone in a heartbeat…“Nintendo likely has its own team dedicated to protecting its propertyand another team for the eShop.Tiny Newtpointed out that"Nintendo has so far refused to refund me for buying one of these.”
Unpacking Review: A Calming Lifetime of Memories in Moving Boxes
Unpacking is a zen-like indie game experience of life, love, and moving. Although short, the story and experience are well worth the effort.
The situation shows how hard it is for independent games likeUnpackingto protect their ideas on big digital stores.Nintendo’s slow response to these scam games could encourage more developers to make similar knockoff titles,which can hurt both players and genuine developers. These copycat games can reduce trust in the eShop, making it less appealing for indie developers to share their games there.
Fans Of Unpacking Say Nintendo Has Done This For Too Long
It’s A Bold Accusation
I’m normally pro-competition,but this doesn’t look like it’s competitive, just exploitive.The fake games start with the game nameUnpackingand then have a colon, as if they’re an add-on. UserChalkitdownnseems to voice what many comments say:“They won’t though… It’s been like this since, what, 2018? The eStore is so awful. I wish Nintendo actually cared.”
Even still, it isn’t fair to say that Nintendo doesn’t care.Knockoff products have been an issue for hundreds of years, and there are plenty of sketchy games on many other online retailers.However, it’s hard to deny that copycatUnpackinggames don’t break the rules when the description for the copycatUnpacking: Deluxe Editionis, “This all-in-one package includes the main game alongside all previously released DLC.” It’s unclear how Nintendo will address this situation, but it certainly brings attention to the ongoing problems within the Nintendo eShop.
