summation
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A number of Unpacking copycats have appeared on the Nintendo eShop, as Creative Director Wren Brier reported two weeks ago.
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However, they haven't heard back from Nintendo and these games are still available for purchase.
Think back to 2021, when the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing. Unpacking, an indie puzzle game from developer Witch Beam, is about moving into a new home. Because it was such a huge hit, it inevitably led to imitators trying to cash in on its success.
As Daniel Vuckovic first pointed out, you can find an unofficial “Deluxe Edition” on the Nintendo eShop, but there are also plenty of fake add-ons like chilled music packs and new chapter bundles. All of these products use the brand name 'Unpacking', which creative director Wren Brier calls “a serious scam”.
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Unpacking, I'm so sorry I was wrong.
After moving, I became my own worst enemy.
Since this was a clear copyright violation, Brier reported the game to Nintendo. But no action was taken for the next 16 days.
“It’s been two weeks and it’s still on the eShop,” Brier posted on Bluesky. “Nintendo has not responded to our reports of these serious scams that use our trademarked game names and intentionally trick Nintendo customers into buying cheap, fake products.”
Ripoffs are not new to Eshop.
The Nintendo eShop has come under fire over the past few years for its poor moderation and strange habits of seeming acceptance. nothing It was submitted (our features editor Tessa Kaur has written a lot about it).
Nothing sums it up better than The Last Hope, a terribly, horribly broken game released last July. This game is a blatant copy of The Last of Us. Ultimately, it was delisted on August 1, 2023, and Sony itself took down the trailer. But it is a multi-billion dollar multinational conglomerate. Witch Beam is a much smaller indie company with a team of just six people.
These unpacking clones are far from an isolated incident, so hopefully things will change with Switch 2 next year.
Unpacking is a meditation game that tasks you with organizing your new home after moving. There are multiple rooms to solve spanning over 20 years of in-game time, allowing you to follow the protagonist's life story.
