Mob Entertainment–the development studio behind the jumpscare-heavy survival horror game known as Poppy Playtime–is suing Google over what it calls “scam” games that are ripping off the studio’s intellectual property (via Polygon).
The studio filed the lawsuit earlier this week, claiming that Google has allowed a number of illegal knockoff versions of Poppy Playtime into the Google Play store. Among the unofficial (and unauthorized) games are Poppy Playtime Chapter 3 and Poppy Playtime Chapter 4, neither of which were created by Mob Entertainment. Both games–developed by an entity known as Daigo–are still available for download on the Google Play store at the time of writing.
These two games are proving especially vexing for Poppy Playtime’s creators due to the fact that the game is episodic in nature. Mob Entertainment argues that by allowing illegitimate games to use “Poppy Playtime” in their titles and (indicate that said games are new episodes), Google is allowing other entities to profit from the Poppy Playtime brand by fooling fans into thinking they’re playing new chapters of the game.
These knockoff games aren’t just capitalizing on the Poppy Playtime name, however. Mob Entertainment alleges that the developers of these games are illegally using screenshots from Poppy Playtime 2, presenting them as though they’re screenshots of gameplay from the fake games instead.
The Poppy Playtime developer says that the fault lies with Google due to its failure to take action by removing the knockoff games from its digital app storefront. Mob Entertainment said it has issued multiple DMCA takedown requests and has contacted Google directly with regard to the fake versions of Chapter 3 and Chapter 4. The lawsuit says that although Google did remove both of the fake chapters from its app store sometime in December, both games reappeared on the Google Play store in a matter of days, and Google has allegedly taken no further action against the creators of the illegitimate titles.
The studio claims in the lawsuit that the knockoff games–which feature “many grammatical mistakes” and an unappealing color scheme, among other flaws–have “tarnished” Mob Entertainment’s reputation, especially given the fact that Daigo’s knockoff titles can fool some users–particularly children–into spending exorbitant amounts of money on a game that isn’t genuine. On top of that, the lawsuit states that Google is profiting from the scam, too.
“Google and Daigo’s unauthorized applications use Mob Entertainment’s trademarks and copyrighted material to trick consumers into spending up to $95 for a game prior to its release on Google Play,” Mob Entertainment asserts. “Google receives 15% or 30% of all sales made by the unauthorized Poppy Playtime Chapter 3 or unauthorized Poppy Playtime Chapter 4 applications.”
Google has yet to publicly respond to the lawsuit.
