Steam Machine’s Unlicensed Companion Cube Canceled, Brand Issues Refunds and Owns Up to Mistake
Dbrand has confirmed that the Steam Machine’s unlicensed Companion Cube is canceled after receiving over 100,000 pre-saves and went on pre-order last week.
The Canadian company announced the Companion Cube-style wrap for the recently released Steam Machine for $100, and many jumped to it with excitement.
According to the brand, they tried to work with Valve but ultimately pulled the plug as Valve wasn’t interested, causing all pre-orders to be refunded.
“We launched around 3am on Monday, June 22nd,” Dbrand said in a Reddit post. “Overnight, it became the second-fastest-selling product in our 15-year history, behind the Switch 2 Killswitch.”
“Shortly after, Valve’s legal team reached out. They stated that the Companion Cube is Valve intellectual property, for which dbrand does not have a license. They requested we take down the produce and launch the film immediately. This was entirely within their rights, and they were direct, fair, and respectful throughout.”
“We took everything down and made an appeal. We asked Valve whether there was any way to keep the project live: properly licensed, with their blessing, on their terms. They said no. Given our backwards approach of building first and asking permission later, it was a fair answer.”
Dbrand continues, saying that it was a “hard lesson to learn publicy” and that Valve “didn’t do anything wrong here.”
“They built a game franchise a lot of people love, and they alone get to decide how it’s used.”
The brand ended the post by saying, “To Valve: thank you for Portal, and sorry for the headache. We should’ve asked first.”
Even though Dbrand offered a thorough explanation along with a very fair admission of their mistakes, fans are pretty disappointed with the news. So far, a few had some choice words about the subject, with the top comment saying, “you guys are f—- stupid, you know that?” Dbrand responded to this comment, actually, simply saying “yes.”
Interestingly enough, Dbrand sent some Companion Cube units to a few influencers, so surely those will be worthwhile items that might go for thousands of dollars in the future.
