Steam removes popular Chinese strategy game after Ark: Survival Evolved studio claims it stole their source code

Myth of Empires
(Image credit: Angela Game)

The sandbox strategy game Myth of Empires has been removed from Steam over allegations of copyright infringement, resulting in a DMCA takedown request. Myth of Empires developer Angela Game has so far declined to reveal who requested the game's removal, but documents viewed by PC Gamer indicate that it came from Studio Wildcard and Snail Games, the developer and publisher of Ark: Survival Evolved.

The takedown request says Angela Game was founded in 2020 by at least one former employee of Snail Games China, Studio Wildcard's parent company, who had access to the Ark source code. When Myth of Empires was released in November 2021, Studio Wildcard grew "understandably concerned" because of similarities between the two games, including identical gameplay mechanics, which it felt went beyond the possibility of coincidence.

Comparing code headers in the Myth of Empires executable, Studio Wildcard developers claim to have found hundreds of matching class, variable, and function names in a preliminary analysis, which they say confirms that the Ark source code was used in Myth of Empires. A summary of the findings was presented to Valve on December 1, which responded by removing the game on December 3; hosting services have also been asked to stop supporting the game.

"Studio Wildcard and Snail Games USA Inc have a good faith belief that Myth of Empires was built by: (1) stealing the Ark: Survival Evolved source code and (2) using the stolen source code as the gameplay foundation for Myth of Empires," the complaint states. "Key employees of the developer of Myth of Empires worked at the Chinese parent of Snail Games USA Inc and at least one of them had the credentials that enabled them to access the Ark: Survival Evolved source code."

In separate statements, Angela Game has unequivocally declared the allegations of source code theft and copyright infringement to be false. "Our development team solemnly declares: Angela Game fully owns all rights and property associated with Myth of Empires and will actively respond to any doubts or allegations on this point," the studio said on December 7. "We are in active contact with Steam and are doing our best to restore the game to their store. We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused players."

On December 8, responding to rumors about the source of the takedown request, the studio said it was "unable to disclose more details," but noted that it is "frustrated with this situation as well."

"We still have faith that we will be able to resolve this situation in a timely manner and make the game available to everyone again," it wrote.

For now, Myth of Empires remains unavailable for purchase, although it remains playable for anyone who owns it. And people are definitely playing it—more than 36,000 of them at the time of writing, according to Steam Charts. Angela Game has pledged to continue "normal operations and development work," including performance improvements and content updates that will presumably be rolled out after the game is returned to Steam: if and when that happens.

Andy Chalk
US News Lead

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.

Read more
Dark and Darker - A player swings a sowrd at a mummy in a torchlit dungeon hall
Dark and Darker delisted again, this time from the Epic Games Store
The Backrooms 1998 screenshot
'A big scam company just stole my whole game': A Backrooms indie dev has been forced to seek legal help after someone took their game off Steam and uploaded it to the Nintendo Store
Steam logo
A web3 free-to-play survival game found to be a front for installing malware on your PC has finally been removed from Steam
Dark and Darker image - guy in a suit of armor polishing some silver
Dark and Darker developer did not commit copyright infringement, court rules, but has to pay Nexon nearly $6 million anyway
A person is abducted by a UFO.
A UFO true believer made a grand strategy space game with input from alien abductees, but now claims shadowy forces have shut it down with a bomb threat
Masked Counter-Terrorist in helmet in forefront with sunglasses and beret-wearing CT in background touching headset
An ambitious Counter-Strike mod to emulate the OG 1.6 experience in Global Offensive has been rejected by Valve after 8 years of development
Latest in MMO
Concept art of WoW's upcoming player housing system, showing a warm homestead with a welcoming figure in shade.
WoW flexes its MMO player housing system in a new blog post, and it really might just beat FF14's dated furniture placement into the dirt
Orithopter shooting down another in Dune
Dune: Awakening confirms air-to-air combat in ornithopters
Defiance players
A dead MMO that launched with a now-cancelled TV show in 2013 is coming back 4 years after servers were shut down
Gallywix wears an uneasy smile as he's confronted by Xal'atath in WoW: The War Within.
World of Warcraft guild uses exploits to get world 'first' on the game's new raid, gets banned, puts its name backwards and does it again
A World of Warcraft dwarf and human character standing in front of the entrance to a delve dungeon
WoW's nerfed its poor Delve companion into a dwarf-shaped crater after his tank spec made them too easy, and people aren't happy
EVE Frontier promo image - Omo
EVE Online studio CCP Games hires former Iceland Central Bank economist for its crypto game, because nothing says 'fun' like 'removing currency controls and fostering emergent value systems'
Latest in News
Gabe Newell in a Valve promotional video, on a yacht.
Go ahead and complain the discounts aren't as steep as they used to be, but Steam just had its biggest year ever for seasonal sales
Valve Steam Deck OLED handheld PC
'The future of hardware at Valve is bright': Valve celebrates the success of Steam Deck and Steam OS
Key art of the videogame Lunacid, showing a pale, long haired knight in purple armor contemplating a purple, flaming sword surrounded by the different phases of the moon.
One of my favorite indie RPGs is getting a follow-up made with FromSoftware's 25-year-old Super Mario Maker for first person dungeon crawlers
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 image - Henry riding a pink and blue striped horse while holding a fish
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 now has Steam Workshop support, and of course one of the first mods lets you adjust the 'jiggle physics'
Still image of Bastion holding a bird, taken from Microsoft's Copilot for Gaming reveal trailer
Microsoft unveils Copilot for Gaming, an AI-powered 'ultimate gaming sidekick' that will let you talk to your console so you don't have to talk to your friends
Erenshor - A player and two simulated MMO party members stand on a plateau in front of a yellow landscape
This RuneScape-looking 'simulated MMORPG' has all the nostalgia without the drama because all the other 'players' are NPCs