Superman Unreal Engine 5 demo’stolen’: A stunning Superman demo developed in Unreal Engine 5 and released earlier this year to widespread internet acclaim has been pirated and released on Steam for $11.
Toybox Games’ Tyson Butler-Boschma developed the first proof-of-concept demo for superhero flying, dubbed A Superman Style Flight Experience (UE5). He based it on the City Sample from Epic Games’ The Matrix Awakens. Unfortunately, problems start once Butler-Boschma released the playable sample on itch.io for free in April.
The Unreal Engine 5 demo Butler-Boschma built “for fun to show what might be made” was stolen by a group calling themselves Hero Game Studios at the beginning of November, and they began selling it on Steam under the name Heroes City Superman Edition for $10.99 USD.
At first, Butler-Boschma requested that his followers repeat his complaints and report the game on Steam. Later, when sales of Heroes City Superman Edition persisted despite his efforts, he resorted to the game’s Steam forums to dissuade potential buyers, at which point Hero Game Studios banned him for “hate speech.”
Butler-Boschma then went out and bought a copy of Heroes City Superman Edition to submit a review on Steam where he could elaborate on his experience. He said, “I developed this demo myself months ago as a proof of concept, utilizing primarily free components, and I was always open and honest about it in multiple YouTube videos and reviews.”
He continued, “To be on the safe side, I bought this game… my game, to absolutely confirm it was my project,” and “I confirmed this just now when I played it, and found the opening level I created from scratch WITH A MESSAGE FROM ME, explaining to players how the simple demo works and offering two doors to walk through.”
“The morality of the situation is at the heart of the matter,” Butler-Boschma said. In other words, “I wouldn’t care if they grabbed it and placed it on Steam for free, but they are selling it, making crazy claims, taking people’s money, using outright falsehoods, and dragging my reputation through the dirt in the process.”
The review was met with a response from Hero Game Studios, who insisted “our game is not stolen,” and “one of the previous developers of our user team [who] departed a long time ago” as justification for their assertion that Butler-Boschma was not involved with the company anymore.
This man now claims falsely that the entire enterprise is his. We have complete ownership of the game and its creation. He acted this way since sales were rising significantly. His expectation is that he will be able to profit from it.”
Even though Hero Game Studios’ accusations seemed far-fetched given the sequence of events, the company continued to go after Butler-Boschma, going so far as to file a copyright claim on a video he uploaded to YouTube in April demonstrating his Superman demo.
After being subjected to “straight-out attacks and harassment,” Butler-Boschma took to Twitter to vent her frustrations. “I don’t feel secure supplying my personal information for a counterclaim,” she said. “I have no idea what to do next… When compared to Steam, I fear that YouTube will do even less “.
Although it took two weeks and the event gained attention in major media channels, progress has been achieved. After a copyright lawsuit on Butler-YouTube Boschma’s video was settled, Valve removed Heroes City Superman Edition from the sale. However, it is still unclear how the game was approved for the Steam store in the first place.
