You Are Empty creator demands Valve stop selling remaster as publisher accuses him of lying

One of the creators of the original You Are Empty has raised objections to You Are Empty: Absolute Edition.

At the end of October, Strategy First and BillionTech released You Are Empty: Absolute Edition for PC on Steam and ZOOM Platform. The remaster of the 2006 shooter includes various improvements.

Dennis Volchenko, who identifies himself as a co-creator of the original You Are Empty and the copyright holder for all of the game’s visual materials and artwork, recently addressed the remaster’s creators. He opposed the remaster’s sale, claiming the publishers had no right to release it as a commercial product:

I see that Strategy First and BillionTech recently released You Are Empty: Absolute Edition on Steam as a paid commercial product for $7.99. I want the community to know the truth. This commercial release came out without any permission. The original publishing agreement expired back in October 2016, exactly 10 years after the game’s release. The current publishers have no valid legal rights to monetize my visual materials or distribute this project for profit. My firm requirement to the publishers was that they distribute this project exclusively for free—as a noncommercial fan mod for the community. They completely ignored my requirements and decided to make money from my work without my consent.

Dennis said he filed a DMCA complaint with Valve for “copyright infringement” and reportedly provided the company with the original agreements with the publishers. He emphasized that his goal was not to get the game blocked:

I want it to be free for everyone because the current version is just a third-party fan mod. Please don’t support these publishers.

“Childish and immature actions”: You Are Empty creator asks Valve to stop selling the remaster as publisher accuses him of lying — Image source: Strategy First, BillionTech

A representative of the developers of You Are Empty: Absolute Edition accused Dennis of lying:

[…] his claims to intellectual property rights in You Are Empty are completely unfounded and fraudulent. This is not even a dispute with any room for legal ambiguity. It is a complete and utter fabrication. Dennis has never held any legal rights to the intellectual property in You Are Empty.

According to the representative, Dennis did not even file a DMCA complaint with Valve. He did not provide the lawyers with the documents they requested about the alleged “complaint”:

If Dennis genuinely believed he held legal rights, the standard and immediate step would have been to file a formal DMCA complaint with Valve. Dennis has never done so. What’s more, when our lawyers formally asked Dennis to provide any documents supporting his claims, he categorically refused. His childish and immature actions clearly show that these claims are completely baseless. What began as an unfounded dispute has now escalated into a public lie, deliberately intended to undermine the reputation of our company, our team, and our project.

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