When Valve announced its cube-shaped Steam Machine back in November, one company asked the most obvious question: What if the Steam Machine looked like a Companion Cube from Portal? Manufacturer Dbrand then took the idea and ran with it, and more than 15,000 people signed up to buy one. After months of anticipation, Dbrand unceremoniously pulled a YouTube video promoting the Steam Machine Companion Cube accessory and removed it from the company’s website last week.
On Monday, Dbrand explained why it pulled its $129.95 Companion Cube: It never got permission from Valve to make the thing based on Valve’s copyrighted design. The situation is a classic blunder and a strong argument against the notion that you should ask for forgiveness rather than permission.
“As you’ve probably noticed, the Steam Machine Companion Cube was eviscerated from our website, YouTube, and other social media platforms last week,” a representative for Dbrand wrote on the company’s subreddit. “The blunt version is that we made the Companion Cube without a license from Valve. Everyone who purchased a Companion Cube will have their refund issued by end-of-day.”
Dbrand explained that it went to great lengths to design, make, and promote its Companion Cube, a hard shell that fully encased the Steam Machine, “without ever asking Valve if we could.”
“We’re going to regret that decision for a very long time,” the company said.
In a warning to anyone else who might attempt something this costly and boneheaded, Dbrand said, “More than a thousand hours went into engineering from our industrial design team. Forty-four sets of injection molding tools were developed, one for each of the cube’s sub-components. The entire product was redesigned from scratch more than once, just to get the way it cradles the console exactly right. We literally rented out a university campus to film the launch video. By the end, we were losing money on every $99 Poverty Cube sold, but it didn’t matter. This had turned into a passion project for the entire organization.”
It added, “Unfortunately, being proud of the thing we made did not give us the right to make it.”
Dbrand said that its Companion Cube accessory became the second-fastest selling product in the company’s history when pre-orders went live on June 22. Valve’s legal team reached out, pointed out that the Companion Cube is Valve’s intellectual property, and requested that Dbrand stop selling it. Dbrand said it tried to properly license the Companion Cube after the fact, and Valve declined.
“We made something a lot of people were excited about, then incinerated our shot at bringing it to market,” Dbrand said. “It’s a hard lesson to learn publicly.”
Dbrand stressed that “Valve didn’t do anything wrong here” and apologized for its shortsighted attempt to make its own Companion Cube. It has also redirected the Companion Cube product entry on its website to point toward the Reddit thread in which it explains the whole forehead-smacking kerfuffle.
In the thread, Dbrand also answers what is sure to be a frequently asked question. “You guys are fucking stupid, you know that?” asked Redditor Degenerate_Media. “Yes,” Dbrand replied.
Valve’s first Steam Machines are rolling out to customers this week. The Steam Machine is currently sold out, but potential buyers can join a waitlist to get one Steam.
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