On Saturday, October 24, 2020, Drillimation Systems pursued legal action against Skidrow Cracked who had illegally distributed copies of the Chuhou Joutai game. Upon filing a DMCA takedown notice, Skidrow Cracked agreed to remove the offending page or risk a legal battle with Drillimation Systems Co., Ltd.
Skidrow Cracked is a game distribution website that teaches players how to crack PC games and play the full version which generally requires payment to play. On each individual page, they list the description, the metadata, system requirements, and the instructions for cracking the game. Most of the games that pirates illegally distribute are put in password-protected ZIP files which generally requires the completion of a survey or offer to gain access to, which if filled out, can lead to privacy invasion and/or malware infections.
Software piracy is still a rampant issue in today’s gaming industry. Drillimation has reported the above-incident to law enforcement, including the FBI so they can be aware of this case. Law enforcement organizations investigate cases of intellectual property infringement and pursue necessary charges upon breach of the law. The primary goals of anti-piracy are to stop the distribution of unauthorized copies of pirated software, circumvention software or programs designed to play unauthorized copies, and/or counterfeit products.
Educational institutions around the world are helping raise awareness of software piracy and many developers work hard to preserve the gaming industry’s ability to invest in developing new and exciting titles, and hope that all legally-sold games succeed. Creating a single game often takes months or years of work for directors, artists, designers, and more importantly programmers and actors. Costs generally reach tens of thousands to millions of dollars, and piracy is a significant threat to developers.
It is important that parents teach their children about the dangers of software piracy, and teach them how to detect whether a game is counterfeit or downloaded illegally. Drillimation will continue to protect their intellectual property rights and take action against those who misuse our products.
If you are a developer who has published one or more titles on Steam, and you believe Skidrow Cracked illegally distributed your game, we recommend you file a DMCA takedown using this link here. Make sure you know how to write a proper DMCA takedown request as it is a legal action.
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