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Limbo of the Lost devs respond to plagiarism charges

Studio accused of stealing from other games apologizes, says it was unaware that outsourced talent was submitting copied content.

Earlier this month, the PC adventure game Limbo of the Lost came under heavy fire for apparently copying artwork from other games like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Thief: Deadly Shadows. When the initial story broke, the game's US publisher issued a statement saying it had no idea about the improprieties, and that attempts to contact developer Majestic Studios had been unsuccessful as the team was on break after finishing up the game.

The developers apparently came back to work today, as a source connected to Majestic issued to GameSpot the following statement from the studio:

"In response to the shocking notification that some alleged unauthorized copyrighted materials submitted by sources external to the development team have been found within the PC game Limbo of the Lost, we (the development team) have given our consent and full cooperation to both publishers who are recalling all units from all territories immediately.

Please be assured that we do not condone in anyway the use of unauthorized copyrighted materials and if we had been made aware earlier, we would of course have ceased development of the product and rectified the issue prior to the publication process.

To the best of our knowledge no one at Majestic, [European publisher] G2Games or [North American publisher Tri Synergy, Inc.] knew about this infringement and knowingly played any part in it.

We can only apologise to all regarding this issue, as a team we are shocked and mortified regarding these events and we continue to work with said publishers in order to rectify the issue.

Limbo of the Lost is a point-and-click adventure game in which players guide protagonist Captain Benjamin Spooner Briggs as he explores the realm of Limbo and The Keep of Lost Souls at its heart.

158 Comments

  • sneaksiegarrett

    Posted Aug 21, 2008 10:02 am PT

    iceveiled: "These guys are a disgrace to the gaming community."

    Agreed!

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  • UltimateXShadow

    Posted Jul 12, 2008 12:43 am PT

    To Majestic Studios:

    /facepalm

    Honestly, it's a shame that they did this: a damn shame.

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  • SandManT1

    Posted Jul 3, 2008 10:40 pm PT

    this game looks like crap anyways i mean look at the rest of the screens

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  • iceveiled

    Posted Jul 3, 2008 8:19 am PT

    These guys are a disgrace to the gaming community. All they have to do is say "look we're sorry, we should not have stolen all those assets and we've learned our lesson". But no, they continue to deny everything and act like they had no idea. I hope they get their asses sued off.

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  • Flatland013975

    Posted Jul 2, 2008 2:35 pm PT

    I honestly think TESM was being sarcastic.

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  • klugenbeel

    Posted Jul 2, 2008 1:22 pm PT

    Seriously, thats the best excuse you could come up with....just looking at screen shots this game SCREAMS low budgets, so them stealing wouldn't surprise me....its much cheaper to steal than to make something yourself. I think i've seen better graphics in MYST.

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  • EnriqueMJK

    Posted Jun 30, 2008 8:24 am PT

    "I swear none of us who made the game or published it had any idea! It wasn't us...it was them!"

    Who exactly are the "outsourced developers"? Why no identification? Seriously if they claim to be involved in the game industry how could they not notice the blatant rip offs. The publishers have got to be mighty pissed they paid to have the game made, packaged, shipped, and put on store shelves all to have made no money on it, then have to pay to get it all back. That sucks.

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  • CastratedWeasel

    Posted Jun 29, 2008 11:19 am PT

    They better take their money and run cos Bethesdas gonna come down on them like a ton of bricks! Oh wait the game was crap so they dont get the money lol

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  • tromatized

    Posted Jun 29, 2008 7:41 am PT

    Look at the green bar on the top! They stole from WOW too...

    http://image.com.com/gamespot/images/2008/134/932503_20080514_screen002.jpg
    http://movies.wow-europe.com/vault/wallpapers/blacktemple/en/blacktemple-1280x.jpg

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  • Swordlink

    Posted Jun 28, 2008 11:41 pm PT

    rofl, didn't know anything about it...

    if it's true, they didn't even look at the game they 'made'...

    and TESM...

    please don't try to say things like QED when you obviously don't know what they mean... lol... that was so out of place...

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  • TESM

    Posted Jun 28, 2008 12:44 pm PT

    Really, it's one of those things where, on one hand, the clunky movements, the poor hit detection, and sub-par graphics and on the other hand, all the press releases on how they were making the game seems like one big practical joke, and I love it. The gaming world needs stuff like this to keep it honest. Sure there are big productions, but this hails back to the old days of games where everyone ripped each other off, used bits and pieces of other's ideas and generally made bad/sub-par games.

    This whole thing is just a couple of guys who did a 1980's/early 90's thing too late. remember it was originally for Atari (I believe). So now it's all making sense.

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  • TheLostLegion

    Posted Jun 28, 2008 8:01 am PT

    @TESM I understand it's not easy, but it's not harder. It's good that they have so much creativity, but they should not rip anything off. And have you even played the game?

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  • TESM

    Posted Jun 27, 2008 9:01 pm PT

    Don't you all understand that the ability to orchestrate all these many facets from different games, books, obscure movies, etc into one game takes far more effort (rather the effort it takes to do such things) is far harder than making a game originally? I mean, they took from so much, even Dungeons and Dragons. Who thinks of that stuff? This is by far the greatest effort to be bad and lazy I have ever seen. Q.E.D. this is the greatest effort I have ever seen at being a good game. It takes talent to recreate a world that had already been imagined.

    You should all thank Steve Bovis and the Majestic team for realizing something far greater than we all can realize, and that is: THE KING OF LIMBOOOOOO (doo-wap).

    Let the voting for GOTY begin...

    It already has, Gamespot.... it already has....

    ....or is it?

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  • CaptCheeseGuy

    Posted Jun 27, 2008 11:42 am PT

    I can understand if they parodied environments in other games in a funny and tasteful manner. But judging by the screenshots it looks like the developers are just being lazy.

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  • Maxer9

    Posted Jun 27, 2008 7:16 am PT

    Timstuff: The guy who funded the project is a professional poker player, I think. Has some money, I think.

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  • P0T

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 9:55 pm PT

    Its obvious they knowlingly did this. Your meaning to tell me they outsourced 95% of the game considering 95% of it is stolen? I call bullcrap!

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  • jaymaster007

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 9:30 pm PT

    This brings a big new meaning to "Full of Sh**"

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  • Taegre

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 12:18 pm PT

    And guys it's been confirmed that even the concept art for the game was plagiarized, and there's no way they'd have an outsourced company do their concept art. Almost hurts to see how many people are believing their statement.

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  • sieg6529

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 5:46 am PT

    they're lucky that it was revealed early on, or this could have gotten messy

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  • Timstuff

    Posted Jun 26, 2008 12:14 am PT

    Also, suing Majestic probably wouldn't be worth the offended parties' time, since I'm guessing that they don't even have any money to pay out in the first place. I mean c'mon, they stole screenshots from the internet-- they couldn't even afford to buy the games they stole from, and take their own screens. In all likeliness, Bethesda and others will just roll their eyes and move on.

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  • RoboWizard

    Posted Jun 25, 2008 5:41 pm PT

    "At any rate, the developer should sue their overseas "artists" for breach of contract, in addition to the legal troubles they have tied them to."

    Who said anything about overseas? I know there's a popular stigma against outsourcing and its relationship to China, but in this case "outsourcing" could simply refer to "some guys down the street". Just about every big software project on Earth is outsourced to some extent, but it sounds like in this case they went with the lowest bidder and ended up paying the price. I doubt Bethesda would bother suing over something this inconsequential, but I wouldn't be surprised if Majestic considered legal actions.

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  • yourbeliefs

    Posted Jun 25, 2008 6:14 am PT

    You'd figure if you were going to plagiarize, you would do it from lesser known games. Those 2, especially Oblivion, are pretty heavy hitters. That's like Vanilla Ice using the music from Queen/David Bowie's "Pressure" in "Ice Ice Baby."

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  • ZacOz

    Posted Jun 25, 2008 5:55 am PT

    "That buys Majestic studios a lot of time, since now anybody wanting to press charges against them will have to prove that this outsourced company doesn't exist before they can fully pin the damages on Majestic." (Taegre) I'm no lawyer, but have done some contract law study in past years, and the only way I could see Majestic could avoid getting immediately sued was if they could provide a contract where the outsourcer has indemnified Majestic. The responsibility isn't on the Publishers to prove there was no outsourcer but on Majestic to prove they are indemnified by said outsourced third party. After reading a number of the forums Steve Bovis was posting in during the game development it smacks of amatuerish development. I'm therefore inclined to think it's possible that even if an outsourcer was involved, Majestic may not have had such a contract indemnity.

    I've got to wonder if the outsourced help was actually Bovis' supposed daughter "Fable" from Just Adventure (http://justadventure.com/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1196172821/0) and Game Boomers (http://justadventure.com/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1196172821/0) forums. In the end, there's just too much fishy about the whole thing when you do some research on it to believe this outsourced **** apparently being peddled by Majestic now.

    By the way, who is this "source connected to the Majestic"? One of the 3 developers, their lawyer? Why not be a little more descriptive if it's a genuine Majestic statement?

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  • YoungFang

    Posted Jun 25, 2008 2:00 am PT

    Lies

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  • TESM posted Jun 24, 2008 9:15 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    TESM

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 9:15 pm PT (hide)

    Many of you find this an outrage. Apparently someone just happened to notice some screens. Seems like they were copied and pasted, but this seems like the best/worst game parody I've ever seen. The ending is amazing, and isn't it just social gaming satire that no one makes anything new or interesting anymore?

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  • Timstuff

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 9:08 pm PT

    Apparently, Chinese slave lords have gotten so lazy that they aren't even putting real slaves in their sweatshops anymore. A simple bypass of the regime's internet censors must have seemed like a goldmine for material once they discovered Google images.

    At any rate, the developer should sue their overseas "artists" for breach of contract, in addition to the legal troubles they have tied them to. They were paid for the labor involved in creating artwork, and instead they simply stole screenshots from the internet, a process which takes mere minutes. They did not do the work they were paid to do, and did not deliver the product promised to the developer.

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  • jmper4

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 6:55 pm PT

    jrett
    "I cannot accept that a group of people smart enough to program games would intentionally take such an obviously bad risk."

    That would be because if you look at the forms for Wintermute (the engine for the game) Steve Bovis requested assistance numerous times on help for scripting the code for the game. So they (Majestic Studios, three people) could not even program the game.

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  • jrett posted Jun 24, 2008 5:11 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    jrett

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 5:11 pm PT (hide)

    Oh, and one more thing... .C'mon... I've played oblivion for over 100 hours, along with hundreds of other games in my life. I'm not going to recognize one or two scenes from any game that I've played unless the scenes were for some reason really really memorable, or someone held the two scenes in front of me so that I can compare.
    Gimme a break.

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  • jrett posted Jun 24, 2008 5:07 pm PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    jrett

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 5:07 pm PT (hide)

    Wow, I can't believe all the negativity in the posts here.

    It is pretty widely known that unlicensed use of copyrighted materials is a very bad idea. I cannot accept that a group of people smart enough to program games would intentionally take such an obviously bad risk. I work in the software industry, not games, but software, and everywhere I've worked it was an obvious and big no no to use unlicensed stuff.

    Given that, I completely believe the dev house was in the dark.

    I think the developers biggest mistake here was to blindly trust their outsourced resources. The big story here is who the heck are these people that actually did the theft. I'd like to hear what they have to say.

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  • xsa

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 3:13 pm PT

    @jazilla

    You seem to fail at seeing how the world works, the vast majority of developers(including those that develop games) see it as work and nothing more. Those few people I know that work or has worked at a gaming company claim that it's pretty much only those that are doing the testing work that are really interested in gaming, the rest see it as purely business.

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  • dgraves321

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 3:02 pm PT

    That is such bull$h!t.

    Wouwie's post to two different places where Bovis states that he created all of the visuals for this game settles this matter in my eyes. This guy tried to take all the credit for creating the visuals, and now that he has been exposed, he's shifting the blame to "sources external to the development team". Man up and take the punishment that's coming to you.

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  • Henninger

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 2:56 pm PT

    Thats messed up (wana say f word but gamespot won't let me) they can't take the time 2 create a game they gotta copy, cut, & paste from some1 else?! Thats funny but said also. How r they even in business? I would go back & look @ all their games & c if they used other company's materials also.

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  • GhostyMcboo

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 2:04 pm PT

    As a designer, i often tell my clients "no... we'll take our own photo for this project... I am not going to manipulate someone else's work to make a quick buck... besides, i won't even get in trouble for it. YOU will."

    It is so easy to create content when you get the right outsourcing (or even in house). I hate it when the suits and middlemen compromise good work for speed. They suffer in the end, anyways.

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  • king_loei

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 1:59 pm PT

    Man... I'd expect this from some faceless corporations involved in the clothing or fast food part of our lives... But videogames and gamers in general should have their own code of honor in respect to each other, because a game is a work of art and should be treated as such. We have higher expectations then the rest of the world has for the before mentioned products. This is sick.

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  • Royas

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 1:40 pm PT

    "Pass the buck" is alive and well in the gaming industry. Somebody is eventually going to have to man up and take responsibility for this debacle. It's not like it's a minor case of accidentally making a texture that looks sorta like something in Oblivion, this is a case of taking everything from there. I really can't believe nobody noticed, even if they are telling the truth about outsourcing.

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  • jazilla

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 1:17 pm PT

    If these people are saying that NO ONE on the dev team had ever seen Oblivion before, they might as well say that 2+2=7. There is absolutely no way that no one on that team or in those offices hadn't ever played ESIV. I can't believe that they would even lie like that. Just be HONEST and admit you plagiarized. Fix it, then move on.

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  • soneca210

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 1:10 pm PT

    Steve Wonder says: Don't Look :3

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  • grigjd3

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 1:07 pm PT

    "we have given our full consent" meaning yeah, we gave our consent to do something we had no power over anyways. If that's not the most pompous and ridiculous thing to say at this point. Did Bethesda give their consent to have their material ripped right out of the game with screen shots and plastered into a hack excuse of a game?

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  • avatarofwoe314

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 12:49 pm PT

    HAHAHAHAHAHAHA

    Your apology won't save you now.

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  • Titanfan2083

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 12:46 pm PT

    This is a bull$#!7 excuse and we all know it.

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  • Tandem_Toad

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 12:40 pm PT

    There's no way that this was an; "oops, we accidentally created the same exact room, please for give us," deals.

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  • magicteapot

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 12:30 pm PT

    Um, to anyone saying outsourced... if that's the case they WOULD BE MORALLY OBLIGATED to say who did that work, immediately. They have no just cause to cover for someone doing something that illegal and creatively fraudulent.

    The fact they've said no one is a giant, flaming proof they're just issuing a denial to cover their guilt. Scumbags.

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  • necronaux

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 12:27 pm PT

    Still find it hard to believe they didn't know. And no one caught this during the testing phases? No one played / saw the game and said, hmmm this looks familiar...?

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  • Taegre

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 12:17 pm PT

    What Wouwie said pretty much settles it. There was never any outsourcing apart from asking for coding help in the Wintermute forums. I'm actually kind of disappointed. I've been eagerly awaiting a response from Bovis and team. And now that it's finally here, they make the first (vaguely) intelligent move they've done throughout the game's entire developement, they pass the buck to something that doesn't exist. That buys Majestic studios a lot of time, since now anybody wanting to press charges against them will have to prove that this outsourced company doesn't exist before they can fully pin the damages on Majestic. That won't be hard to do, but it'll take time nonetheless.

    Hopefully it won't be much longer before we can laugh endlessly at Steve Bovis's hilarious excuses once it's discovered that this statement is a lie.

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  • McGregor

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 12:12 pm PT

    I guess if the company they outsourced their material told them the products were genuine they might listen. I have a hard time believing that the developers failed to check out their outsourced products.
    Is the company they used for outsourced material responsible for any of this? they did the plagiarising afterall.

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  • Wouwie

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 12:01 pm PT

    Majestic Studios is clearly lying

    Read the article in the following url, especially the part that talks about the development team members. http://www.justadventure.com/Interviews/Limbo/SteveBovis.shtm

    Nothing is said about any outsourcing of backgrounds, but it is said that Steve Bovis created ALL the visuals. For further proof, read the following forum post in which he states how he created the graphics:

    http://forum.dead-code.org/index.php?topic=749.msg5825#msg5825

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  • Taegre

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 11:46 am PT

    mangerz64
    "Now it was careless not to check on the models they have been receiving from the company doing to models for them but it could happen, they are not lying. Please people if you want to comment on game development do a little research before hand and please check the company I mentioned so you can understand that every company does outsourcing."

    Maybe you should do some research on the game in question as well. If we hold this statement as truth, then that means the dev team received an outsourced character model of their main character which, unknown to them, was actually a rip of one of the stock models in their animation program Poser. In LotL's Making Of feature, they illustrate animating with the program Poser. That means they were working with a model taken from the program they are doing all of their animation work on , and during the entire time they spent looking at this program they never realized the model was already in the damn animation window.

    There's far too many holes in this logic to be valid. Majestic Studios is lying.

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  • stakex007

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 10:52 am PT

    Even if the copied assets were done by an outside company... I find it very hard to believe Majestic had no idea what was up. I mean, anyone who has played any of the games that were copied could tell right away that LotL ripped them off. So they expect us to believe that either no one on the dev team has ever played Oblivion, or that the dev team never actually played their own game? I don't think so...

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  • mangerz64 posted Jun 24, 2008 10:44 am PT (does not meet display criteria. login to show)

    mangerz64

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 10:44 am PT (hide)

    To everyone who keeps making comments on "how could they outsource some of the work" and "the development team was copying but now they don´t know who did it".

    Its very sad that most of the people making comments don´t know the most basic thing of making a game, Ubisoft outsourced many of the GRAW models to an outside company while they worked on the main programming and design, Epic did the same with Gears of War for some characters, its just common practice since its cheaper and more productive to do that, just check the company called Streamline Studios and you will understand.

    Now it was careless not to check on the models they have been receiving from the company doing to models for them but it could happen, they are not lying. Please people if you want to comment on game development do a little research before hand and please check the company I mentioned so you can understand that every company does outsourcing.

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  • zeus_gb

    Posted Jun 24, 2008 10:42 am PT

    Many dev teams big and small outsource certain things. I guess this small dev team outsourced quite a bit in order to get the game out the door. They should have checked the outsourced content before putting it in the game but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

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