Development STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl continued as normal, the makers showed a few trailers, but then something went wrong. First there were several leaks of builds (their plausibility is a separate topic), and now there is a new scandal – the distribution of warnings to several Russian-language YouTube channels for copyright infringement. We are among them. Read more in this article.
What happened
On June 20, 2023, the YouTube channel iXBT.games received a copyright infringement strike from GSC Game World Global LTD, a complaint was received from a certain Roman from Gmail ([email protected]). Journalists wrote to the address given to find out the reason for the strikes. The answer turned out to be quite unexpected – the screenshot is presented below.
It is noteworthy that a person without domain mail signed the name of the development company STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl. On the same day, an official appeal was issued by GSC, in which the developers denied their involvement in this story and their connection to Roman.
After iXBT, strikes came on the video from the inactive YouTube channel VGTimes. The sender is still the same Roman. We doubt that a person without official mail has the legal right to act on behalf of GSC Game World Global LTD. On what basis then does YouTube block the video?
It is worth noting that the VGTimes channel has not been updated for 7 months, so our content has, as they say, “stood the test of time”. Catching strikes after such a long time is strange. In addition, there were complaints about some very old videos, one of which is devoted to the first official details about STALKER 2 and the second to mods for the original Stalker 2007. Both complaints were filed for “copyright infringement”.
Of course, we noticed that the same email address [email protected] is listed as a contact, i.e. the alert was initiated from a personal email address registered in Google Gmail. Representatives of iXBT.games also corresponded with her.
As a rule, gaming companies (and all media companies in general) have their own email domains. GSC Game World is no exception in this regard: @gsc-game.com and @stalker2.com – this is what developer domains actually look like.
So why are the alerts coming from free Gmail? And who is hiding under the Latin transcription roman holubnychyi?
Roma-Roman?
Channels VGTimes and iXBT.games are probably not the last in the Sudden Strike Attack. But who is this strange contact? We decided to search for information and soon found our hater’s profile on Artstation.com, a gallery and exchange of works by professional artists, designers and illustrators. We leave a direct link to the profile, it will be available from June 23, 2023: https://www.artstation.com/roma_gol.
Under the cute raccoon avatar, a well-known email address for communication is indicated – [email protected]. It turned out that Roman has another name – Dan Connery (Dan Conerry), and he is a 3D artist. He has several developers from GSC Game World as friends, such as Roman Shirin, main character artist, and Alexey Rysyuk, a former concept designer who worked on STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl.
Artists make no secret of their involvement in the SGR project and keep various thematic works in their portfolio. However, there is little such evidence, so we decided not to contact Roman with questions, but directly to GSC Game World – to the official email of the game’s creators. So far it seems that Roman really wants to “help” the developers.
Unexpected denouement
On the evening of June 22, we wrote to [email protected] asking for clarification of the situation. The answer came much more subdued than the answer in Roman/Dan’s iXBT.games, and more informative.
Good afternoon.
GSC Game World has not sent any warnings or attempted to block your videos.
The mail you provide is not the business mail of the Company’s employees. Already went to YouTube for clarification.
You can use this letter as evidence in your appeal.
Apparently, the studio denies any involvement in the Gmail strike attack. Also note that official developer comments usually look different. So, GSC Game World cooperates with the company Anti-Piracy Protection, which is engaged in protecting their rights to all licensed content. When an APP representative finds (or is advised of) a violation, he will send a letter confirming his authority with a power of attorney with a blue seal.
As politely as possible, the lawyer explains the fact of copyright infringement and asks to resolve all controversial issues. He does not remember the navigational directions of ships in the waters.
Implications
We’ve already taken GSC Game World’s advice and used their response in filing an appeal with YouTube, but as of June 26, video hosting is still silent. It turns out that the lone 3D artist has somehow convinced YouTube that he owns the copyrights to the game and also speaks on behalf of the developers. Sabotage or a very strange PR action? Write in the comments what you think.
Have you experienced unfair YouTube blocking?
Source: VG Times