The developers behind the controversial video game Bleak Faith have now replaced the assets from the Epic Marketplace that were allegedly stolen.
Archangel Studios released Bleak Faith earlier this week and many players have tried it out. Many were quick to point out that some of the animations were very familiar and it had similarities to the ones found in the popular video game Elden Ring. This is where they were accused of stealing these assets from the game, which they explained that the assets were actually purchased from the Epic Marketplace and denied the allegations.
Today, the developers have now stated that Epic has responded to their inquiry but the answers were “not satisfactory for us.”
Eurogamer shared a statement that was given to them by Archangel Studios explaining their side. They revealed that 10 percent of the game had been developed using Epic Marketplace assets.
“As a three-person studio, [Epic Marketplace] was a vital resource to utilize throughout the four-year development. The assets in question were purchased from the Epic Marketplace in good faith and with the understanding that Epic went through the proper vetting and review process before listing them for sale,” the statement said.
Here is Epic’s response for an investigation into the origin of the assets:
“Pursuant to the Marketplace Distribution Agreement, each Marketplace seller represents and warrants to Epic that they have appropriate rights to upload their content. As with any store that hosts third-party content, however, Epic is not in a position to independently verify such rights, and Epic makes no such guarantee to purchasers of the content.”
Archangel Studios could only do one thing to make things right and that was to remove the assets from the game.
“[The response from Epic] is not satisfactory for us and so we have taken the decision to replace the assets purchased from the store over the next several days. Some changes we included in the recent patches, and more are coming in the next few days. Certainly this has been a huge lesson for us and hopefully other indie creators out there too that assets on these storefronts seemingly cannot be purchased in good faith,” said Archangel Studios.
“The team sincerely thanks everyone for bringing the issue to light. The utilization of stolen assets is unacceptable, and we hope other indie creators won’t ever find themselves caught up in a similar situation. Asset marketplaces are a critical resource for development teams, particularly those on a minimal budget. We hope the proper vetting and review protocols are put into place soon to provide verified assets for creators of all shapes and sizes to use on their upcoming projects.”
Bleak Faith Forsaken is out now on PC via Steam.