Despite its main experience (Pet Simulator X) dropping in player count substantially, and lacking updates for well over a month, the Roblox development company BIG Games continues to stay in the public eye, but not for the best reasons. The company's founder and CEO, Preston, is no stranger to controversy—with players continuously accusing the PSX creator of being money hungry, selfish, and irresponsible—but typically remains quiet when drama involving his experience is stirred on social media. Most recently, Preston has begun an apparent "DMCA cleanse" in which a multitude of developers have received warnings to adjust their experience's content, as to not infringe with BIG Games' intellectual property, or else they'll face deletion and possible legal action outside of Roblox.
One of the first users to highlight this situation was RBXGLeaks on X (previously Twitter), who made a post on Sept. 5, 2023, that claimed Preston had "DMCAed the RBXGLeaks Discord server and X account," and threatened them with a cease-and-desist order and possible lawsuit. According to the user, their actions and content had been supported by BIG Games for two years, and they never received a warning regarding any breech of legality. Just two days after this post, developers began to step forward as well and share the DMCAs they had received from BIG Games, and Preston was no longer quietly observing the chaos.
On Sept. 7, 2023, developer FilteredScript made a long post on X explaining that they had been "falsely DMCA'ed by BIG Games LLC over use of similar pet models," and that said DMCA was "causing tens of thousands of dollars of lost income, and wasting time." Filtered then called out Roblox itself, saying it "shouldn't be allowing mass takedowns of games without a proper review process," and that it's upsetting to see companies engaging in "anticompetitive monopolisation" with little to no consequences.
The DMCA from BIG Games to Filtered stated the following:
"I am writing to assert a DMCA takedown notice based on the substantial similarity between content in 'Chest Simulator' and my intellectual property. After careful examination, it has come to my attention that their pet models, images, and textures exhibit resemblances that exceed mere coincidental similarities. This content has been added to their game without our permission. We have not authorized them to use our copyrighted materials, and therefore their use of our materials constitutes copyright infringement. Our game, Pet Simulator X, has square pets with uniquely identifiable faces, colors, and art style. These pets are both used in our games and real world merchandise and advertising."
Preston, BIG Games CEO
To resolve this DMCA, Filtered was ordered to replace every pet design in their experience (nearly 300 pets in total), to which they stated they didn't have enough time to do. Filtered then finished his post by asking how it's possible to "replace pets for 'similarities' when the cube style barely allows for difference/variations other than on faces," and assuring their followers that more new experiences would be coming.
This post by Filtered quickly received traction, and it wasn't long before Preston broke his silence, simply replying to the post with a link to a Roblox Dev Blog post titled "Protecting Creativity by Understanding Intellectual Property." An example of the pets in Chest Simulator can be found below.
Also on Sept. 7, 2023, a developer by the name of meepcell made a post on X showcasing that Preston had DMCAed their Roblox experience as well, and claimed that the intellectual property accusation was false. Preston then replied to this tweet highlighting what in meepcell's experience caused the DMCA, and again linked to the same Roblox Dev Blog post.
As stated in a post made by the fan-made Roblox news account RTC, the experiences Arm Wrestling Simulator, Tree Chop Simulator, and Pls Buy Me have also received DMCA takedown requests from BIG Games recently, though, according to Preston, these requests were filed months ago, and are only coming through so much later because of Roblox's slow processes.
When confronted about the sudden uptick in DMCA takedowns and copyright infringement claims, and accused of removing experiences that were made by Pet Simulator X fans who were simply inspired by its content, Preston stated the following, "We don’t take down fan games unless they are made to profit off our IP. [Some people are] stealing our designs, in some cases over 50+ of them, [and] most of these games are outright selling [them] for money. They aren’t doing it for fun, it’s purely profit driven made to compete against us and nothing in-between. I like fan games, it's two different things."
After these statements from Preston, another BIG Games affiliate, Coylist, took to X to share an abundance of memes related to the DMCA situation, all of which aimed to showcase the extent of the PSX copying.
In response to Coylist, and the general battle that had broken out between BIG Games and the rest of the Roblox community, popular YouTubers began sharing their opinions of the events that had transpired as well, most notably KreekCraft and NightFoxx, who had the following to say:
"Not taking sides here - I feel like it’d be better if you just composed a document with all the details of what was/wasn’t DMCA. Spamming the timeline with memes isn’t the greatest PR strategy. Just something like, 'Here’s a list of games we sent DMCAs to. Here’s why.' If all DMCA requests are as clear cut and dry as the memes you’re making, then it should clear up any drama immediately. Otherwise it just feels like you’re poking the proverbial community bear."
KreekCraft
"I’ve seen both sides of the conversation and feel that while Preston and his team are in the right to take down a few games (and leak accounts), implying every game with cube pet game deserves a DMCA, is simply outrageous. You can’t own a cube pet idea. It’s like saying any roblox game with trees is illegal because the first game with trees owns the sole right to place trees. I’m not taking sides here. My relationship with big games starts and stops with my vids. To end I’ll say this, make sure you fully understand both sides before making an assumption. You don’t want to get caught supporting someone who turned out to be in the wrong. Educate yourself."
NightFoxx
As expected, the general fan reaction to the entire situation is mainly negative, with many users calling for a complete boycott of BIG Games, and even trending an anti-BIG Games hashtag on X. Within this hashtag are memes, threats, and questions all targeted at Preston and his company, some of which extend far beyond the actual truth of the situation, yet spread like wildfire nonetheless. As of the time of this article's publication, the official BIG Games X account has yet to speak on the events at all.
BIG Games has also remained quiet throughout the DMCA's current sister controversy, which comes from the company's previous plush manufacturer, Bespoke Plush INC, and claims that BIG Games knowingly engaged in racist behavior, scamming, and theft during their time working together. On Aug. 30, 2023, Chris Krishna Caitanya, Bespoke's founder, posted a video on YouTube in which he claimed BIG Games was a racist company that had defrauded his own company of $480,000, and that he had already taken legal action against Preston and BIG Games.
When asked about this video, Preston attached a screenshot from his bank account and stated on X that it was completely untruthful and manipulative, and that Bespoke stole $500,000 from BIG Games, rather than the other way around. "They stole from US. This is my account. There is no other side. We received nothing from them. They are criminals and everything they say is a lie, they are trying to get more. No, they are not filing against us in a US court. Witch hunt needs to stop."
Though a majority of the internet remains on any side that isn't Preston's, there have been handfuls of users who have raised their suspicions with Bespoke, and begun to question the validity of its claims. Even one of the most prominent anti-Preston users, RealSchlep, has outwardly shared his thoughts on the possibility of Bespoke "extorting" Preston, and, in turn, incriminating itself.
As more information is released regarding the events currently plaguing BIG Games, it's inevitable that users will interpret the situations in different ways, and that opinions will change as new alliances are formed. For the time being, the full truth related to both the DMCA situation and the plush controversy are unknown, and it may stay that way. BIG Games is no stranger to bad press, and Preston already doesn't have the greatest reputation within the Roblox community, so it's easy to dismiss both events as irrelevant and something that will be moved past in just a few weeks. If/when more conclusive information becomes available, it will be reported promptly.
Looking for more Roblox news? Check out some of our other articles on Roblox settles $10 million lawsuit that demands refunds on deleted avatar items or Adopt Me! Happy Meal toys are coming soon, to Austria – Roblox here on Pro Game Guides.
Published: Sep 7, 2023 03:30 pm