Unomelon, the developer of Minecraft-inspired sandbox game Allumeria, says a DMCA from Microsoft, evidently related to Minecraft, got the game removed from Steam.
“The Allumeria Steam page is currently down because Microsoft has filed a false DMCA claim on it,” Unomelon said on Bluesky on Tuesday. “They sent an email earlier today claiming that this screenshot infringes on their copyright. I am taking a moment to figure out what my path is going forward, will update soon.”
The screenshot in question (above) is a simple wide shot of a forest filled with birch trees, what look to be oak trees with green and autumnal leaves, and a few pumpkins and weeds checkering the grassy dirt. There are definitely some similarities to Minecraft; if you told me this was a screenshot of a Minecraft mod, I’d probably believe you, but that’s true of many voxel-based games, including Hytale.
That’s not just similar to Minecraft - it’s nearly identical. I’m not sure that the DMCA notice isn’t justified. I don’t know the law well enough to judge where the line between legal and illegal Minecraft clones is.
Doesn’t matter. Copyright protects identity, not likeness. Valve even says in the email to the dev that Microsoft said they outright stole Minecraft’s exact assets. Because just looking the same isn’t copyright infringement.
Microsoft also complained about the gameplay being stolen too, which doesn’t fall under copyright at all.
Because it’s a voxel Birch or because you feel the texture is derivative and pixel similarities show glaring similarities leading to the belief the creation of the assets were based on MC textures?
A DCMA from a company representing Mojang got Luanti (formerly Minetest) taken down once before because they thought it infringed. After challenge it was later found it was bullshit.
It’s not just the tree - it’s the whole scene. (Complete with random pumpkins that you wouldn’t ever include unless you were deliberately copying Minecraft.) As I’ve said, I don’t know if that’s illegal but it’s certainly derivative enough that I have no sympathy for it.
Minecraft copyright doesn’t cover the entire genre of block-based sandbox pixel art games. Minecraft isn’t even the first in that genre, even if it’s the most popular by a wide margin.
Unless Microsoft can prove that one of the textures started by copying a Minecraft texture, or that substantial bits of code are copied from Minecraft, there is no claim.
There is nothing literally taken from minecraft. All the textures are original, and not even that similar to minecraft. I’ve talked with people like you before who just has no fucking clue about something that is so obvious to just about everyone else when it comes to stuff like this. It’s very clearly NOT minecraft, nothing in anything shown in the images or anywhere else from the game gives any hint at stolen models, textures etc.
There are tons of block games like this and many that look way more similar but those have never gotten a DMCA.
Hytale looks like Minecraft with a texture pack and shaders. Every Minecraft inspired block based game looks like Minecraft with a texture pack and shader.
Oh and MS just withdrew their copyright claim because it was bullshit from the start.
And an Chevy el Camino looks like an ford ranchero. Not sure why you are so upset someone can reconginize the similarities. And yeah you cant just copyright things that just ‘look similar’ weird i know.
I’m all for new takes on the block game (been looking forward to Hytale and will definitely give it a go sometime in the near future) but after watching the trailer…
It would be hard for me to tell this isn’t Minecraft if I didn’t watch or look into the game on a semi regular basis. It looks incredible derivative.
I’m not saying it’s necessarily in need of the copyright strike I don’t know the rules, but I’m not surprised it got one.
So. Immediate feelings of outrage followed by a mental shrug post trailer viewing.
I’m not arguing about whether the copyright claim is legit. I’m saying that claiming the picture in the post doesn’t look like MC is a questionable opinion at best.
Which is an irrelevant point because it’s a singular image, and one that is depicting only nature which by nature (pun wasn’t intended) is generic. And to prove my point what is the first game that comes to mind when you see this image?
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That’s not just similar to Minecraft - it’s nearly identical. I’m not sure that the DMCA notice isn’t justified. I don’t know the law well enough to judge where the line between legal and illegal Minecraft clones is.
Doesn’t matter. Copyright protects identity, not likeness. Valve even says in the email to the dev that Microsoft said they outright stole Minecraft’s exact assets. Because just looking the same isn’t copyright infringement.
Microsoft also complained about the gameplay being stolen too, which doesn’t fall under copyright at all.
So the DMCA definitely wasn’t justified, no.
Minecraft is an infiniminer clone, it should be shut down ASAP.
Because it’s a voxel Birch or because you feel the texture is derivative and pixel similarities show glaring similarities leading to the belief the creation of the assets were based on MC textures?
A DCMA from a company representing Mojang got Luanti (formerly Minetest) taken down once before because they thought it infringed. After challenge it was later found it was bullshit.
It’s not just the tree - it’s the whole scene. (Complete with random pumpkins that you wouldn’t ever include unless you were deliberately copying Minecraft.) As I’ve said, I don’t know if that’s illegal but it’s certainly derivative enough that I have no sympathy for it.
Minecraft copyright doesn’t cover the entire genre of block-based sandbox pixel art games. Minecraft isn’t even the first in that genre, even if it’s the most popular by a wide margin.
Unless Microsoft can prove that one of the textures started by copying a Minecraft texture, or that substantial bits of code are copied from Minecraft, there is no claim.
Indeed
And theres only so many ways to make a low pixel square look when you wanna make it look like a birch tree
Hytales birch trees are just more gray, and dont have white/black contrast
Same leaf color though
deleted by creator
Curious what your thoughts are on Vintage Story, Hytale, Castleminer Z, etc…
There is nothing literally taken from minecraft. All the textures are original, and not even that similar to minecraft. I’ve talked with people like you before who just has no fucking clue about something that is so obvious to just about everyone else when it comes to stuff like this. It’s very clearly NOT minecraft, nothing in anything shown in the images or anywhere else from the game gives any hint at stolen models, textures etc. There are tons of block games like this and many that look way more similar but those have never gotten a DMCA.
It looks like Minecraft bro turn off your reality distortion field
Did you even look into it or did you just do what the AI generating the DMCA did and looked at a singular image and decided it looks like Minecraft?
It does look like minecraft with a texture pack and shaders. Though, the trees look skinnier than normal.
Hytale looks like Minecraft with a texture pack and shaders. Every Minecraft inspired block based game looks like Minecraft with a texture pack and shader.
Oh and MS just withdrew their copyright claim because it was bullshit from the start.
And an Chevy el Camino looks like an ford ranchero. Not sure why you are so upset someone can reconginize the similarities. And yeah you cant just copyright things that just ‘look similar’ weird i know.
I’m all for new takes on the block game (been looking forward to Hytale and will definitely give it a go sometime in the near future) but after watching the trailer…
It would be hard for me to tell this isn’t Minecraft if I didn’t watch or look into the game on a semi regular basis. It looks incredible derivative.
I’m not saying it’s necessarily in need of the copyright strike I don’t know the rules, but I’m not surprised it got one.
So. Immediate feelings of outrage followed by a mental shrug post trailer viewing.
I’m not arguing about whether the copyright claim is legit. I’m saying that claiming the picture in the post doesn’t look like MC is a questionable opinion at best.
Which is an irrelevant point because it’s a singular image, and one that is depicting only nature which by nature (pun wasn’t intended) is generic. And to prove my point what is the first game that comes to mind when you see this image?
Minecraft has red leaves?
The style is similar to Minecraft, the rest just happens in nature. I took a walk in my woods last fall and saw oak and birch and even… pumpkins
If the DMCA is not sent by Microsoft, it doesn’t matter. You can’t file one on behalf of someone else.