It’s a very strange story that pitted the site specializing in independent games yesterday against itch.io and the box that sells the figurines with the big noggins now well known Funko. Due to intellectual property issues, the site was taken offline for several hours: “This day we stood against Funko Pop” quipped the account owner X (formerly Twitter) of the platform once the site returns. However, everything was not yet over. A few hours later, we learned that Funko would have called the mother of this person who, visibly a little panicked, left him this message: “I just got a weird call from a company about accusations made on your social media. Call me.” The situation therefore seems to take on quite surreal proportions which still border on burlesque comedy. It feels like April Fools’ Day. While, according to the late explanation of Funkothe story seemed almost settled.
Because yes, Funko finally spoke last night. Whether with journalists who contacted the company or on social networks, the message was entirely the same. The latter began with these words: “At Funko, we have a deep respect and appreciation for independent games, gamers, and developers. We are fans of our fans and we love the creativity and passion that characterizes the independent gaming community.” So what could have happened then? As we explained to you yesterday, the harm comes from an automated tool which has decreed thatitch.io infringed on the intellectual property of Funko. A report was made, and it was this which pushed the host to block access to itch.iountil it visibly accepts requests going in the opposite direction. Funko tells us that it was one page in particular that caused problems, because it imitated the style of the Funko Fusion game. It could be that a game has adopted the aesthetics of the title and that this has not pleased the tool used by the company.
Without knowing the name of the game, the page of which must still be unavailable, it is impossible to say whether we are facing a slight inspiration or a shameless plagiarism. But if Funko is such a big defender of indie games, why attack a small indie game that would never have overshadowed it anyway? Because if the tool is automated, Funko does not appear to disagree with the reporting of this specific page. The company only regrets the consequences that the latter had on the site itch.io whole: “We have reached out to itchio to discuss this issue and greatly appreciate the understanding of the gaming community while we wait for the details to be ironed out.” Do these concern the problematic page or the shutdown of the site? Are the two parties discussing compensation or just regulation? We would like to be a little mouse to know if this matter is definitively settled or if it is only the beginning of a new squabble. But to do this, we will have to wait for more official declarations.
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