Star Control Origins Pulled from Steam Due to DMCA Notice

Star Control Out of Steam

Star Control Origins has been hit with a DMCA takedown on Steam and has now been pulled off sale. The claim is from Paul Reiche III and Fred Ford, two creators of the classic DOS games and are in an on-going dispute with Stardock, the game’s creator and publisher. The actual URL for the game now redirects back to the main Steam page. Although the game’s DLCs are still listed. Including both free Multiverse and Reinforcement DLCs, as well as the Earth Rising season pass.

This is an unprecedented event considering both Reiche and Ford have no hand in creating the latest Star Control Origins game. DMCA notices are quite commonly used for pulling out copyright content which owners claim are theirs. Often seen for YouTube videos containing clips of games, but not an actual full game itself by other people. This is clearly a case of DMCA abuse since Stardock legally owns the IP for the game.

You can never pin them down. What in Star Control: Origins, do You believe Reiche and Ford own? What possible justification do they have to DMCA a game that has nothing to do with them? #dmcaabuse

— Brad Wardell (@draginol) January 1, 2019

For those who are not aware of the legal battle on-going with the two creators, Stardock has published a Q+A on their website. It even includes screenshots of e-mails from Reiche and Ford airing their disputes.

What About GOG?

Unlike Steam, GOG is showing a backbone here and are keeping the page up for the game. Furthermore, it is still available and playable DRM-free. The game is still available on that platform at the time of writing. Most likely because DMCA is a US copyright law and GOG is based out of the US.

UPDATE: January 2, 2019 – It appears that GOG has now taken down Star Control Origins for sale as well. The direct link now redirects to the main GOG page.