PC and mobile accessory and case maker dbrand was forced to cancel and refund all sales of its Steam Machine Companion Cube case after realizing and publicly admitting that it never got permission from Valve to make the dang thing.
In a Reddit post you'll be redirected to from the Companion Cube case's now-defunct listing page, dbrand confirms the product "was eviscerated from our website" and won't be coming back.
The Portal-inspired case began as a joke posted on the heels of the Steam Machine reveal, dbrand says, but a wave of real consumer interest sparked some hasty development and, "in the months that followed, we built the idea into something real without ever asking Valve if we could."
"We're going to regret that decision for a very long time," dbrand says.
Across seven months, dbrand says "more than a thousand hours went into engineering" the case, with 44 sets of injection molding tools created. "By the end, we were losing money on every $99 Poverty Cube sold, but it didn't matter," the company says. "This had turned into a passion project for the entire organization. Unfortunately, being proud of the thing we made did not give us the right to make it."
Dbrand even took pre-orders for the case beginning June 22. It became "the second-fastest selling product in our 15-year history," but those pre-orders will be refunded today, as this was what finally triggered alarms and action at Valve.
"Shortly after, Valve's legal team reached out," dbrand adds. "They stated that the Companion Cube is Valve intellectual property, for which dbrand does not have a license. They requested we take down the product and launch film immediately. This was entirely within their rights, and they were direct, fair, and respectful throughout."
Dbrand did try to salvage the work put into all this by finally asking Valve for permission, but the company "said no." Dbrand admits that, "given our backwards approach of building first and asking permission later, it was a fair answer." It also stresses that "Valve didn't do anything wrong here," and concludes by saying, "We should've asked first."
Rarely do companies publicly take eggs to the face so willingly, especially companies this established. But I suppose it is also rare for experienced manufacturers to forget about licensing for seven months.
Journalists often have to dig to get even modest acknowledgements of blame from large companies. In this case, a Reddit user responded to dbrand's statement and said, "You guys are fucking stupid, you know that?" The company replied, "Yes."
