AI Clone Released in a Hurry as a Retaliation Against Original Indie Game

A recent incident involving an AI-generated clone of an indie game has sparked significant outrage in Japan, raising concerns among developers about the risks of sharing their projects online. The creator of the copycat game has attempted to justify their actions by claiming it was an act of “revenge,” pointing to the original developer’s previous work on a mash-up game featuring elements from a popular franchise.

The original game, titled Typing Room, is being developed by content creator Kamaboko, who has been working on it for about a month. Kamaboko shared a glimpse into the development process through a YouTube video released on February 26. The plagiarized version, also named Typing Room, was uploaded to Unityroom by a user going by “Kamaboko Kōsatsu Kōsatsu” on March 4. While this imitation is free-to-play, games on Unityroom can generate revenue through ads.

In a strange twist, Kamaboko Kōsatsu Kōsatsu released a YouTube video seemingly in response to accusations of plagiarism. In this video, they openly admitted to using AI to generate their version of Typing Room, utilizing Kamaboko’s videos and user manual as prompts, and claimed it only took them “two days” to create it. They criticized Kamaboko for being “lazy” in their game development and defended their own AI-generated version as justified, citing that Kamaboko had previously used official assets in their own fangame.

This situation has prompted several Japanese indie developers to express their worries on social media about the loose regulations surrounding AI-generated content on Unityroom. Many are particularly frustrated that the Typing Room clone remains on the platform. One indie developer, Strawberry Sakura, shared their feelings of despair, stating, “When you publicize a project at such a rapid stage like I did, or spend too much time on development, it ends up getting stolen like this, huh… I feel anger welling up toward those using generative AI.”