Japanese indie game blocked from launching on Steam after developer is accused of infringing on their own IP

Japanese indie developer Daikichi_EMP has shared that Valve has blocked his upcoming title, Wired Tokyo 2007, from being released on Steam for potentially infringing on "third-party intellectual property” despite the IP also being owned by the developer.

The details:

• As reported by Game Spark, Daikichi took to X to share that the release of the demo for their upcoming “3D vertical action game” has been blocked by Steam. According to the developer, Valve has highlighted the inclusion of objects from board games Second Best and Dinostone as the content responsible. However, both of these games were created by Daikichi in the past.
• Daikichi has now been told by Steam that they need to provide “reasonable assurances” that the “dinosaur themed card games shown in the environment within your app in gameplay” do not equate to copyright infringement in order to release the demo. According to the message, Steam says this “could take the form of license agreements or a legal opinion from your attorney analyzing the intellectual property issues and explaining why you don’t need licenses.”
• Dinostone was included in Wired Tokyo 2007 as a simple nod to past projects, but Daikichi is now unable to prove they own the IP using legal paperwork, as the game was released under their online pseudonym. They also note that due to being a solo indie developer, they do not have the funds to hire legal support to resolve the issue and have now submitted a newly created signed document to Valve.