I have been working for over 2 years on my game and 4 months ago I finally released my demo. Yesterday, while searching on Steam I found a game with EXACTLY the same title and very similar premise. The page was created in May or June 2026 and they aim to release in August 2026. Here are some of descriptions I use on my Steam page:

  • A first-person psychological thriller with a heavy atmosphere and elements of liminal horror.

  • Uncover the stories of your subjects by studying their personal items and darkest secrets before making life-or-death choices.

  • Will you sacrifice your own beliefs to obey HIS authority?

For comparison here is how they describe their game:

“Will you obey orders, or resist? In this first-person psychological horror game, you sit across from subjects and must investigate evidence to determine who is telling the truth, and decide their fate.”

My game is planned to release in October or whenever it’s completely playtested and polished. I’m not sure what I can do as this has never happened before, what do you think is my best course of action here?

For reference my game: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2719670/The_Milgram_Experiment

And the copy: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4777470/The_Milgram_Experiment/

  • Stern@lemmy.world
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    6 days ago

    You named your game after a well known psychological experiment and now you’re surprised someone else used the name and generalized gameplay related to said experiment? Not trying to be that guy but brother, what were you expecting? Did you have another in the tank called The Stanford Prison Experiment? The Rorschach Test maybe? Kinda comes with the territory I would think.

    But for real, just call it Milgram. Conveys the same thing, no crossover with duplicate, I think it would show up first in a search on steam as well.

    • Road_Warrior_10@lemmy.worldOP
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      6 days ago

      I guess I am upset that they didn’t check if the name is taken or not. When I create a new project (this is my 4th game) I always check for same name. Because even if it’s technically legal it’s not beneficial for both sides to have one game mistaken for the other

  • Sharkticon@lemmy.zip
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    6 days ago

    I’m certainly sorry for your troubles but I’m not really seeing anything here compelling as to the idea of them purposely stealing something from you. It’s two games based on an actual scientific experiment. So of course the name is going to be the same cuz the name is based on the experiment. Of course the descriptions going to be similar because you’re describing the same experiment. The games themselves seem different enough that I have trouble believing you could convince anyone of theft here, particularly anyone at Steam.

    There are a lot of games out there that are very similar. It’s just the nature of the thing. I agree with some other comments in here I think your best choice is to just change the name, maybe to something a little bit more memorable and original and rely on the fact that your product does look better. Certainly file an official Complaint if you feel it necessary, but I wouldn’t get your hopes up.

  • SkunkWorkz@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Unless you trademark the title you can’t do anything about it. And an international trademark cost a lot of money.

    I wouldn’t worry too much about it. The copy doesn’t look like a game that can compete. It looks very barebones. The Steam algorithm will bury this game because it won’t sell. You probably gave this game more publicity than it ever got before. Just focus on your own game the more wishlists you get the more the algorithm will push your game to customers and they will never see the copy.

    • Road_Warrior_10@lemmy.worldOP
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      7 days ago

      Thank you! Yeah I’m not sure my name can be trademarked, but just not worth the money spent. However I assumed Steam had a system that prevented using the exact same title

      • ober@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        7 days ago

        Unfortunately not. Just look up “SCP Containment Breach” or even just “SCP” on Steam and you’ll see a whole mess of duplicates.

  • TrackinDaKraken@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    You’ll need to add onto your tile, to distinguish it from the rip-off version, so people know.

    And, doing what you’re doing here, getting the word out.

    You’ll be fine.

  • daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    6 days ago

    They may have done you a favour. The name just being the name of a famous experiment is not very SEO friendly. The less of your troubles is another game having the same name, you have thousands of references to that experiment to compete with for name placement.

  • alakey@piefed.social
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    7 days ago

    You didn’t come up with the name and it’s perfectly realistic to imagine more than 1 person coming up with a similar idea based on the same concept. Even if someone “stole” your idea - do it better than them and you’ll have nothing to worry about. I’d be more understanding of your concern if a big AAA studio happened to make this release so close to yours, but even then not much you can do due to aforementioned reasons. And while Steam lets you use any name you want, even if it’s already taken, it will put your game first on the search list if more people interact with it, which will naturally happen if your game is good.

  • Treczoks@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Happened to bigger outfits. There is this board game “Settlers of Catan”, which should have been “Settlers” originally, until a computer game of that name got released just before they launched.

  • borth@sh.itjust.works
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    7 days ago

    I wish listed your game, I’ve been following it for some time, looks a lot better than the copy. I don’t think that copy will sell as much, and if you keep promoting and talking about it the way you already are, I think it’d be clear which one is the rip off.

    I think it’d be a good idea to give keys to some streamers to show the game. I might tell a few steamers to stream this, it seems like it would be fun to do this with an audience.

    • Road_Warrior_10@lemmy.worldOP
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      7 days ago

      Yeah, thank you! I am already sending my demo to streamers and of course when the full game is out I will send keys too

  • stegosaur@lemmy.world
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    7 days ago

    Yours looks way better, one small criticism that may be easy to adjust but could also just be the visual style you want: most surfaces look way too glossy and reflective.

    While it’s nice to have detailed reflections, things like the wall tiles just seem nearly like mirrors when it comes to light reflections. There’s no diffusion. Maybe the face masks could stay as glossy, but I would diffuse/dull the rest a bit. The ceramic tile but especially the padded room. Padded room tiles would be fabric so there really shouldn’t be any gloss and very little reflection.

    I hope you don’t take that the wrong way, and I think your game will stand out as far superior to the copy

  • SleeplessCityLights@programming.dev
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    6 days ago

    I had no idea two steam apps could have the same name. It does make sense though, you pay for an app for every prototype and not all prototypes make it to development. There would be a lot of wasted names. I wonder that if you apply for an IARC rating first, it will block them. Dm me if you want to know the no cost, zero effort way to do it.

  • j4yc33@piefed.social
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    7 days ago

    I have played the demo for your game, and while I don’t know if you can fight this, you’ll deffo be getting at least one sale!

  • Janx@piefed.social
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    3 days ago

    Not a dev or lawyer, zero experience. But don’t undervalue word-of-mouth! That’s something they can never copy. Sure, some people might buy the asset flips/copies, and hopefully they’ll get refunds. But if your game is popular and liked and well-reviewed and supported, it’ll drown out the noise and rise above it all… Good luck!

  • pasdechance@jlai.lu
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    7 days ago

    Your game looks considerably better.

    I would not want my work to be confused with another’s.

    Even so, a non-litigious option is to contact the dev to propose a bundle.

    The “Experiments” Bundle?