A developer is suing Google because the company is failing to protect players from rip-offs

earthpressnews

The Mob Time development team is best known for the indie horror title Poppy Playtime. The studio is now fed up with another developer misusing the name for fake apps. Google is also said to be to blame and is now being sued.

What is the lawsuit? Mob Time has filed a lawsuit in California civil court against Google and Daigo Game 2020, Inc. (via de.scribd.com). The team claims that Poppy Playtime’s name and brand image are being used to rip off fans.

  • The fourth chapter of Poppy Playtime was supposed to be released on January 30, 2025. However, Daigo Game 2020, Inc. had already published an app in the Google Play Store on October 15, 2024, which is called “Poppy Playtime Chapter 4”.
  • The same scenario is said to have already occurred with Chapter 3. The fake apps are said to be disguised like the real version, but charge players up to 92.50 euros when opened to gain access to the full version. Afterwards there would be an inactive URL and the money would be gone. A similar scam exists with other well-known games such as Baldur’s Gate 3.
  • The lawsuit includes claims of copyright infringement, trademark dilution and unfair competition. Mob Time is therefore demanding compensation of at least 365,000 euros and the removal of the fake apps from the Google Play Store.

    • According to Mob Time, the other developer is said to have used official images from Chapter 2 of Poppy Playtime to trick players into downloading the apps. The court document totals 40 pages.

    You can see the official trailer for Chapter 4 of Poppy Playtime here:

    Poppy Playtime – Trailer for Chapter 4 of the horror game

    More videos

    Autoplay

    Google isn’t supposed to help, so it’s being sued

    What does Google have to do with it? The fake apps were published in the Google Play Store. Mob Entertainment is said to have repeatedly asked Google to remove the fraudulent apps from the Play Store. The first request should have been made on October 31, 2024.

    This helped achieve short-term success: On December 9, 2024, the fake app for Chapter 3 was removed. But that didn’t last long, because on January 13, 2025 the app was back in the Play Store and has been one of the top search results for Poppy Playtime ever since.

    For comparison: the original was only downloaded over 10,000 times in the Google Play Store. The fake app, on the other hand, has over 1 million downloads (via Google Play Store).

    What is Poppy Playtime? Poppy Playtime is a survival horror game that appears in several episodes. An abandoned toy factory is home to monstrous killer toys that at first glance look like inconspicuous cuddly toys.

    How can I recognize the fake? Mob Time charges 4.59 euros for the 3rd chapter of Poppy Playtime. If you end up on the fake site, Chapter 3 will initially appear for free. You should under no circumstances download this version, even if the free version seems tempting at first.

    With its concept, Poppy Playtime is reminiscent of Five Nights at Freddy’s. There is a new part for this that received a whopping 96% positive reviews on Steam. You can read what’s so good about the horror game on MeinMMO: New part of Five Nights at Freddy’s receives 96% positive reviews on Steam and is celebrated as the best game of 10 years

    mmod-game