RCR: Underground changes soundtrack to avoid “false” DMCA takedown [Updated]

Update - July 18: River City Ransom Underground developer Conatus says it will change the soundtrack to the game because, in short, "we can’t spend another minute thinking about the false DMCA complaints filed against us and our YouTube and Twitch community."

Conatus writes in a post on the game's Steam community page today that the company's lawyers have assured them Alex Mauer's DMCA claim has "no legal basis" and that she was fully paid for the rights to her subcontracted music work on the Kickstarter-funded game. But the developers are not eager to face the prospect of proving that in order to fight the game's DMCA takedown request on Steam.

"Being legally right is only half the story," Conatus writes. "As a practical matter, the costs of legal action would put console development plans on hold, perhaps indefinitely. We don't have any interest in spending our time and our energy dealing with this matter further."

Conatus expressed dismay that the hard work of so many developers "could be thrown into disarray so easily and so unjustly." That said, the team writes that a new soundtrack is "the best chance that RCR:U has of achieving a 'clean break' from any negative associations with Alex Mauer’s wrongful claim. My hope is that when the creators and I think about this game or the years of our lives that have gone into creating it, we see the game for what it is: a beautiful, if imperfect, realization of the vision and work of many, rather than the controversy that came after."

Conatus' move follows a long history of questionable behavior from Mauer, as extensively documented by SirTapTap here. That includes a slew of DMCA requests against YouTubers covering RCR:U and other games she worked on, alleged death threats against YouTubers, and the legal representation fighting a DMCA claim against Starr Mazer DSP.

Despite Conatus' detailed denial, Mauer maintains in a recent interview with Kotaku that she was "cut out of the deal" for her work on the game, and that the company hasn't "gotten my permission" to use that music. "They can easily get my permission, but they need to be transparent with me about whatever deal they made regarding the music."

Original Story

River City Ransom Underground was removed from Steam late last week, part of an unfolding legal drama surrounding a composer who has been directing DMCA copyright-infringement takedowns at games she says don't have the rights to her music.

Conatus' Andrew Russell, one of the developers of River City Ransom Underground, said in a short statement that "we are aware that RCRU is down on Steam. We have contacted Valve's copyright department, and will let you know when access is restored." But composer Alex Mauer confirmed to Destructoid that the removal was the result of a Digital Millennium Copyright Act request she made against the title.

"Conatus never got my written permission to use my music in the game," Mauer told the site. "As far as I know, they have Disasterpeace's [one of the game's composers] signature and are trying to act like that alone is enough to have secured rights."

Mauer has previously issued DMCA takedown notices for a number of RCRU YouTube videos that she says feature her music without permission. Conatus took to the Steam forums earlier this month to clarify that the company was not behind those YouTube requests and to defend a right to use Mauer's music. "Alex Mauer produced, in collaboration with others, works for RCRU as a subcontractor, and Conatus believes that it possesses the legal right to use those collaborative works in the game," the company wrote.

The RCRU takedown follows a similar situation surrounding Starr Mazer: DSP, another game Mauer had removed from Steam via a DMCA takedown over claimed music rights. Starr Mazer's developer, Imagos, set up a GoFundMe page to fund their legal effort against that takedown and eventually got a restraining order against Mauer that led to the game's return to Steam last week.

"Imagos Softworks successfully got their DMCAs retracted by bringing me to court and getting a restraining order," Mauer told Destructoid. "Conatus could do the same. These companies think that acting like they have secured rights is the same as actually having secured rights. Neither Imagos nor Conatus have, but the public is quicker to believe them over me, just because they are game developers."

While Conatus goes through the DMCA process with Steam, River City Ransom Underground is still available on GOG as of this writing.