"Myth of Empires," a recently released game, has been removed from Steam after the developers of "Ark: Survival Evolved" accused the game's developers of stealing source code.
According to PC Gamer, Ark's developers (Studio Wildcard) and publishers (Snail Games) claim that Angela Game, the makers of "Myth of Empires," "was founded in 2020 by at least one former employee of Studio Wildcard's parent company, Snail Games China, who had access to the 'Ark' source code."
Studio Wildcard was "understandably concerned" when "Myth of Empires" was launched in November 2021 because of parallels between the two games, including identical gameplay mechanics, that it thought went beyond coincidence.
Studio Wildcard developers claim to have uncovered hundreds of matching class, variable, and function names in a preliminary study of code headers inside the "Myth of Empires" executable, confirming that the "Ark" source code was used in "Myth of Empires."
On Dec. 1, Valve received a summary of the findings and responded by deleting the game on Dec. 3; hosting services have also been ordered to stop serving the game.
Valve was notified of this last week, and "Myth of Empires" was delisted from Steam on Dec. 3 as a result of their findings.
Angela Game has strongly denied the charges of source code theft and copyright violation in different statements.
"Our development team solemnly declares: Angela Game fully owns all rights and property associated with Myth of Empires and will actively respond to any doubts or allegations on this point," the studio said on Dec.7.
"We are in active contact with Steam and are doing our best to restore the game to their store. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused players."
"We still have faith that we will be able to resolve this situation in a timely manner and make the game available to everyone again," it wrote.
On December 8, responding to rumors about the source of the takedown request, the studio said it was "unable to disclose more details," but noted that it is "frustrated with this situation as well."
The studio claimed on December 8 that it was "unable to disclose more details" regarding the source of the takedown request, but that it was "frustrated with this situation as well."
For the time being, "Myth of Empires" is not available for purchase, but it is still playable for those who already possess it. And, according to Steam Charts, it's being played by more than 36,000 individuals at the time of writing.
Angela Game has promised to continue "normal operations and development work," which will presumably include performance improvements and content updates once the game is re-released on Steam, should that happen.
