AI Clone Blackmail Targets Indie Devs: Pay $200 or We'll Steal Your Game

Imagine spending months pouring your heart into a game, only to get an email saying someone used AI to clone it and will dump it on Steam unless you pay up. That's exactly what's happening to indie developers right now.

At least two studios have publicly shared these threatening emails. The sender claims to have used generative AI to create a "clone game" from their work-in-progress and demands $200 in Steam goods within 24 hours — or the copycat goes live first. So far, no one has paid.

The first team to speak out was Weasel Pit, the studio behind the roguelite vehicle battler Iron Pilgrim, set for Steam in Q3 2027. On September 30, they received an email from someone calling themselves Zagir Harif, who said he'd seen their development footage and decided to make his own version — complete with an AI-generated video mimicking Iron Pilgrim. Weasel Pit refused to pay, but admitted the whole ordeal has them rethinking how much they share publicly. "You can spend months making a game, post it online, and someone can apparently try to recreate it with AI almost immediately," they wrote.

Psicodart Games, currently working on Circusar (a game about a unicycle-riding clown fighting enemies while keeping the crowd hyped, due Q1 2027), got an almost identical email. Same sender name, same demand — just with their game's name swapped in and a different AI-made video attached. Another developer on Reddit also shared a nearly identical message from "Zagir Harif."

Of course, the internet being the internet, some are crying foul. X community notes questioned the authenticity, dredging up past drama where Weasel Pit criticized a low-effort game concept and threatened to release a free version if it ever hit Steam. Some wondered if this was all a publicity stunt. Weasel Pit denied it, pointing out that other developers received the same threats. And the fact that the Reddit email matches theirs — same sender, same wording, different game — makes the original poster's controversy look less relevant.

Still, nobody knows if the extortionist actually wants money or just wants to mess with people. The demand for Steam goods instead of a direct transfer is suspicious, and the threatener only ever attached a video — not an actual playable clone. The "pay or we publish first" line might just be a scare tactic.

But the fear is real. Japanese outlet GameSpark reported that tomo-mana, co-representative of GREENHORN (currently developing the deck-building roguelite RPG Project Solaris), announced they'll temporarily cut back on sharing development progress. They used to post updates twice a week, but after seeing these events, they decided it's not worth the risk. "Until I can be confident that sharing progress won't make it easy to copy, I think it's better to reduce updates for now," they said.

This whole mess highlights a growing worry: as AI tools get better, indie devs who rely on transparency and community engagement might have to choose between building hype and protecting their ideas. What do you think — should developers share less, or is this just a new risk we all have to live with? Let us know in the comments.