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Steam sale allegations lead to wrongful DCMA takedown of Rooster Teeth video

The video is now back, with an apology from Gaijin Entertainment.

 

Imad Khan

Internet Culture

Posted on Jun 15, 2015   Updated on May 28, 2021, 2:15 pm CDT

The Steam Summer Sale is going on right now, and some companies are being accused of using shady tactics to make their wares more appealing.

One such company was Gaijin Entertainment, which is behind the free-to-play game War Thunder. Gaijin came under fire for allegedly jacking up the price of one of its DLC packs only to then artificially discount it during the sale. 

The folks over at Rooster Teeth tried to shed some light on the situation in an episode of The Know detailing the controversy. Shortly thereafter, users on Reddit noticed that Rooster Teeth’s video had been pulled due to a copyright claim. The video is now back up.

Copyright claims have been an ongoing issue with YouTube. Though DCMA is intended to protect copyrights, some companies have used flimsy or bogus copyright claims to take down dissenting voices. 

In the gaming space, the most recent example was when Super Bunny Hop had its video detailing the fallout between famed director Hideo Kojima and publisher Konami taken down. 

In a follow up episode of The Know, Rooster Teeth addressed both the DMCA claim against its video and the price hike allegations against Gaijin Entertainment.

The president of Gaijin Entertainment Anton Yudintsev apologized for mistakenly using a DCMA claim. The intent, he said, was to report what he says was misinformation in the original Rooster Teeth video. In an message to The Know staff, Yudintsev clarified that while the price was increased on the War Thunder DLC pack in question, it was never part of the Steam sale, and its removal from Steam didn’t have anything to do with the hubbub. 

Screengrab via The Know/YouTube

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*First Published: Jun 15, 2015, 1:56 pm CDT