Scammers attempt to sell free Unreal Engine 5 demo on Steam as a premium game

Earlier this year, a playable Unreal Engine 5 demo featuring Superman went viral, giving us a small look at what a next-gen Superman game might look like. While most of us looked at it this and moved on with our lives, some chancers saw dollar signs, attempting to rebrand the demo and sell it on Steam. 

The original Superman demo was created as a proof-of-concept demo made by one person, Tyson Butler-Boschma, who is now trying to combat scammers from stealing his work. Tyson was recently made aware of someone attempting to sell the demo on Steam for $10, putting a premium price tag on a freely downloadable demo.

Speaking with Insider-Gaming, Tyson explained that a DMCA was filed a week ago, but Valve had not yet responded. The scammers are attempting to fight back by sending abusive messages and filing false DMCA takedowns against his YouTube channel. Due to YouTube's copyright system, he can't file counterclaims without revealing personal information to the scammers, which could open up a whole new can of worms.

As of this afternoon, the game in question, Heroes City: Superman Edition, is no longer listed on Steam and appears to have been removed. You can play the real free demo via Itchio.

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KitGuru Says: Steam has become a platform for ‘asset flip' titles over the years and we've seen many games that essentially appear to be scams. These don't get as much attention as they used to, but this is a reminder that people do still regularly attempt things like this. 

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