Posted January 11, 2025 by Bat Studios
Hello everyone,
I’m deeply saddened to share that our project has been stolen by a company called Punch Mobile, which uploaded it to their websites without my permission.
I am exploring legal options to address this situation and protect the work that we at BatStudios have put in so far. I have already sent that company a DMCA takedown notice, but I have not heard anything from them as of one day after discovering this issue. Light My Way, along with another game found on itch "Lookouts" feature on these websites, and the games require a subscription to be played, which means this company is monetizing our works for their own gain.
The websites in question are: https://games.jam.lk/en/categories/games/visual-novel?page=4
and
https://chronocraze-tamaituk-ke.punch-apps.com/categories/games/visual-novel?pag...
I have placed the direct search result so that anyone can see for themselves.
I recommend other creators on here who might be concerned about something like this happening to them to also search the web for their own project name. I discovered this by chance after wanting to see where Light My Way might be mentioned. To my surprise, I found out it was stolen and I suspect that upon releasing the public version of chapter 7, they will update it on their website.
I have no idea how to actually handle this outside of just sending them an email. Apparently, they could be based in Sri Lanka, but that's just what I gathered from their shoddy Privacy and Terms. I know this might seem harmless, but in fact it isn't at all. Allowing such behavior makes all of us creators an easy target for theft. It's sickening, to be honest.
I'll update this if anything changes. As of yet, we have to postpone the release of Chapter 7 until we figure out what's going on with this unexpected situation. I'm really sorry about this, but I refuse to let the hard work my team and I have put in be exploited by someone else for their own profit.
Thank you for your support. It means a lot to know that we have fans of Light My Way and we're looking forward to sharing more of our work with you once everything calms down.
See you in Stradia!
-Hadrian Maximus