https://store.steampowered.com/app/1288710/BlackSite/

Thanks to Steam user JohnRomeroHD for posting about this game on our discussion forums.

Fresh off the bat from talking about a game that was a Frankenstein's monster in terms of how much copyright infringement was present, now we have arguably an even worse and blatant example. I know the phrase "I can't believe this is on Steam" has become pretty overused these days, but something like this, does genuinely and unironically question how so little checks were done on this that no one at Valve seemed to notice or batter an eye.

The game linked above is BlackSite, which is being pitched as the Steam release for the 2007 FPS by Midway Games Blacksite: Area 51. Midway Games unfortunately shut down back in 2008, and the rights to Blacksite were transitioned to Warner Bros. from what I have been able to gather.

The game appeared on Steam with very little promotion besides the store page appearing in the blink of an eye. This got some suspicions from some of our members in the linked discussion thread at the top with some people being skeptical as to who posted this. Now, the game doesn't have Warner Bros. listed anywhere on the page. Midway Games are listed as the developers, but the publisher is listed as "MB Publishing" and this publisher has no other games under their name aside from BlackSite.

The forum posts made by the developer were also heavily questionable I found when I was looking over everything when I first caught glimpse of this game being posted. Users questioned why it got renamed from BlackSite: Area 51 to just BlackSite, with the "developer" claiming it was for marketting purposes. Odd bit of reasoning but I guess nothing too indicative it's not his. One thing that sort of threw me off was when he was answering a question with regards to the screenshot quality on the store page claiming that "he" would fix them up, indicating he's acting alone in this and it's just him going through the process of posting the game to Steam. He claimed a deal was struck between him and the current asset holder hence why he can post it. So, mystery solved right? He has the rights? Well, no, he lied...

How do I know he lied? I have the best evidence you could ever ask for, an outright confession from the poster himself. A whistleblower that wishes to remain anonymous who has been in contact with this "developer" shared with me some chatlogs. I have cropped them slightly just to remove indication as to who this user is but the screenshots are pretty telling.

Chat 1
Chat 2 (the important one)[cdn.discordapp.com]
Chat 3

These screenshots speak for themselves, he seems to know it's inevitable that WB will DMCA the game, he just wants to make as much money as possible before hand so he can run away, tail between his legs, and money bags in hand.

The user that contacted me, also showcased that the developer gave them a copy of the game as well, showing he has already knowingly and willingly distributed copyrighted material that doesn't pertain to him.


Now, I usually don't like making requests of you guys, but I feel in this case I am more comfortable doing so. As of today, this individual is 12 days out from profiting off of work that's not his, work that is illegal for him to post on Steam and work that he shouldn't be seeing any profit from. I would ask you to please, if you can spare the time, to send in emails to legal@wb.com alerting them of this game existing. You don't need link this post to them, in fact it's recommended you don't just so the mails are straight and direct to the point as WB will most likely already know a lot of what's been talked of here, you just need to link the store page, they will already know that this guy has not acted on their behalf.

Again, I usually hate gathering you together to go about doing a task, as I'm conscious about not wishing to weaponize this community that I am very proud of and I feel privileged to have. However, in this case, I feel the need for action is there, and I feel and I hope something good can come about this if we can all draw attention to this in hopes that the appropriate parties will step in.

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