Indie Game Orion Removed from Steam for Allegedly Stealing Call of Duty Guns

Amidst the Steam Sales and Steam's creator- Valve sued for promoting illegal gambling in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, comes another controversy to the platform.

Indie shooter Orion has been pulled from Steam following a DMCA takedown request. It allegedly uses gun assets from the Call of Duty games - Black Ops 3 and Advanced Warfare.

"[O]n behalf of Activision, who alleges that the game Orion uses weapon art content from Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 and Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. The weapon art in question includes the M8A7 rifle, the Haymaker rifle, and the Bal-27 rifle," reads a part of the DMCA takedown posted by David Prassel of Trek Industries - the developer of Orion.

"This is extremely serious that a DCMA request has removed our entire game from sale, during the biggest sale event of the year. Apparently no cross-checking was done by our Partner, who we've been with for over 5 years and I have seen better and would expect better from them. At minimum, to contact us regarding our assets/defense before taking any action," Prassel's post continues. He further states that Orion being pulled without warning or verification has had a chilling effect on the team and does little to inspire confidence in Steam going forward.

Meanwhile, a post on Reddit compares guns from the Call of Duty games and Orion, resulting in a striking similarity. In an email to Polygon, Prassel claims it is "not enough for a design infraction, even by legal standards and by a significant amount."

Regardless of the outcome, the entire state of affairs highlights how fragile Steam really is when it comes to allowing developers to protect their work in the event of a takedown notice.