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Poppy Playtime developer Mob Entertainment is suing Google over scam versions of its games. Mob Entertainment, via a lawsuit filed Wednesday in California and reviewed by Polygon, is asking the court to force Google to take down its game and for damages of at least $150,000 per infringing work. The lawsuit also targets the unnamed developer who created the fake Poppy Playtime games using the Daigo Game 2020 moniker. Daigo Game 2020 is listed as publishing the two Poppy Playtime apps on Google Play, as well as games based off Skibidi Toilet and Minecraft. The Minecraft app, called Minicraft 2020, is listed on AppMagic as having more than 50 million downloads. (Minicraft 2020 and the Skibidi Toilet games have been removed from the Google Play store.)Poppy Playtime is a survival horror game thats published episodically, the first of which was published in 2021 by Mob Entertainment. Its playable on Windows PC, consoles, and mobile. So far, there are three chapters, with a fourth scheduled for release on Jan. 30. Basically, the premise is that youve got to survive in a terrible toy factory with scary toys the big one being Huggy Huggy, an awful blue monster with rows of shark-like, disgusting teeth. The video games themselves are quite popular, with more than 40 millions across platforms, according to the company, but its also wildly popular on YouTube, where Lets Play videos and lore explainers rack up millions of views. Legendary Entertainment is making a movie based off the franchise.All of this is to say that Poppy Playtime is a moneymaker. After its first two chapters were published, players were eagerly awaiting the third installment. At least one person looked to capitalize on the excitement surrounding the next chapter, Mob Entertainment said in its lawsuit, by publishing applications that directly use the Poppy Playtime name to lure in players. The unauthorized games are titled Poppy Playtime Chapter 3 and Poppy Playtime Chapter 4, and they are currently available to install on the Google Play store. Not only do the they use the Poppy Playtime name, they also use screenshots from Poppy Playtime: Chapter 2, Mob Entertainment wrote. Per the Google Store, these purported scam games have been downloaded more than 1 million times. Both of these games are free to install, but then ask the player to download a mod to access the game priced between $30 to $95 according to the lawsuit. After paying for the game, all [players] receive is a link to a dead webpage, the company wrote. The lawsuit claims these apps are being used to trick consumers into spending $95 for a game prior to its release.There are other games, seemingly by other creators, on both Google Play and the iOS App Store that appear to be influenced byPoppy Playtime, but which dont appear to use the copyrighted Poppy Playtimename.Googles role in this, Mob Entertainment wrote in the lawsuit, is due to its unwillingness to take down the scam games. Mob Entertainment said it issued DMCA takedowns on both infringing chapters and has otherwise contacted Google to inquire. In December, Google did remove the content. But days later, the content returned to the Google Play store.Mob Entertainment argued that the purported scam games have tarnished the companys reputation due to their bad quality many grammatical mistakes and an ugly color scheme, per the lawsuit of the bait-and-switch scam, plus the high price of it ($95 for almost nothing).Mob Entertainments fight against scam, slop ripoffs is, unfortunately, not unique. The conversation has centered recently around the Nintendo Switch eShop that, as Kotaku put it, is filled with a lot of garbage that was likely made quickly and is only there to cash in on a trend or holiday. Unpacking developer Wren Brier posted about studio Witch Beams struggle to get blatant, low-quality Unpacking clones off the eShop. Its been over two weeks and these are still on the eShop, Brier wrote on BlueSky. Nintendo hasnt responded to any of our reports of these egregious scams which are using our trademarked game name and purposely tricking Nintendo customers into buying cheap fakes. The Unpacking clones have since been removed, but theres plenty more slop on the eShop with the same agenda and, as indicated by Mob Entertainments lawsuit, on the Google Play store, too.Polygon has reached out to Mob Entertainment and Google. Polygon reached out to four different email addresses associated with Daigo Game 2020, but all four were unable to be delivered.
