The developer of the SRPG *Dragon's Chronicles: Reginleif of the Twin Stars*, scheduled for release on Steam in 2027, revealed on social media that they had received a threatening email stating, "If you don't want a clone of your game to be released on Steam first, pay us money."
The contents of the threatening email sent to the developer are as follows…
The content of the threatening email was disclosed by Takashi Mochibe of Studio At Home, the developer of *Dragon’s Chronicles: Reginrave of the Twin Stars*.This game is the latest installment in a full-fledged SRPG series that has surpassed 35,000 cumulative downloads (as of August 2026), featuring simultaneous turn-based combat, highly flexible battles, and challenging game balance.
The email stated that the sender had used an AI tool to recreate a similar game and was ready to release it on Steam first. It read: “I’ll give you one chance. If you pay the equivalent of $200 in Steam items within 24 hours, I won’t release the clone. I’ve attached a video as proof that I created the game. There is no room for negotiation.”
It appears that no video evidence of the clone game was actually attached, and Mr. Mochibe reportedly replied, “If you really copied it and made an SRPG that’s more fun than mine, I’ll buy it for $200.” He also concluded that this was likely a spam email being sent indiscriminately and issued a warning, saying, “Developers, please be careful just in case.”
Reports of “ransom” demands—threatening to release an AI-cloned game first—have also surfaced overseas. In Japan as well, there are signs of caution regarding such threats; for example, tomo-mana, the developer behind *Project Solaris*, announced that he would suspend his twice-weekly progress updates.
In this instance, Mr. Mochibe concluded that “it’s absolutely impossible to easily copy my game using AI” and brushed off the threatening emails.
However, there have been a series of reports of cases where developers posted prototype videos of simple, idea-driven games on social media, only to have multiple copycat versions appear on Steam or Roblox within a matter of days.
For indie games developed by individuals or small teams, sharing information on social media is an essential promotional tool. However, if concerns grow that published information could be misused for imitation or threats, it may become difficult to actively promote works still in development.
"Dragon's Chronicles: Reginleif of the Twin Stars" is scheduled for release on PC (Steam) in the first quarter of 2027. According to the store page, the game uses assets based on generative AI for some of its illustrations, icons, and character voices.
