A developer known mostly for "asset flipping" -- the practice of pumping out simple games using free assets in game engine stores -- has officially shut down after Valve targeted it for a massive takedown of more than 200 of its games from Steam. Silicon Echo Studios has admitted some of its wrongdoing, but still claims that it's been unfairly targeted.
Companies like Silicon Echo Studios has been a bane of Steam at different times in the past, though more recently because they are designed to bring in money through the sale of trading cards. Bot accounts can earn them, flip them on the market and make a few dollars doing so -- not to mention the rubes buying copies of the nothing games too.
Silicon Echo Studios' tyranny has now come to an end, but not without a whimper:
"We are no heroes," a studio spokesperson told Polygon, "we have indeed sometimes been conducting our business with some practices people may call shady."
While it admits its "shady" actions though, it believes that's more to do with it changing its name to avoid crackdowns. Its other business practices aren't really that bad, it claims.
"People who are calling us asset flippers are correct only partially because we always made our own levels using the basic assets provided for us when we bought the asset kit and all of the kits had licenses allowing us to use them in commercial purposes. We have all the required bills to confirm our purchases on the Unity Asset Store."
Whether they paid for the assets fair and square isn't the issue. It's how they used them that is. Regardless of its feelings however, Silicon Echo Studios is no more and will no longer be making its shovelware games. One down, a lot more to go.
