My game's art is on a suspicious site
Stolen art is upsetting - and tactically, it is good news: your capsule art, screenshots, and store description are your copyrighted works, and copyright gives you the cleanest, fastest takedown lever that exists. No arguing about intent, no platform judgment calls - the assets are yours.
The sequence
- Screenshot the page with URL and date - including YOUR art visibly on THEIR page.
- DMCA notice to the site's contact or copyright agent: your official page (the original location), the infringing URL, the statutory statements, signature. If the site publishes no contact, send it straight to the host's abuse desk (find it via ICANN lookup) - hosts process DMCA notices independently of their customer.
- Check what the art is FOR. Art theft is rarely decoration - it usually dresses a download lure. If the page offers a download, "playtest", or "free" version of your game, run the full impersonation sequence (Safe Browsing + registrar) in parallel, not just the DMCA.
Who owns game art (the honest note)
You do, if you made it or your contractor assigned rights in writing - standard in game-art contracts, but check yours. Art made by an employee in scope of employment is the studio's automatically. If a contractor kept rights (rare, but it happens with jam collaborations), ask them to send the notice - one email, and most will.
Common questions
Q: The site recolored/cropped my capsule art. Does DMCA still apply?
A: Yes - derivative use is still use, and perceptual matching survives crops and recolors (which is also how monitoring finds these pages).
Q: It's a "fan page" using my art with no download. Same response?
A: Different judgment call. Genuine fan pages are usually an asset, not a threat; a polite note about linking your official page resolves most cases. The sequence above is for pages with downloads, payments, or lure wording.
Q: How do I find where else my art appears?
A: Perceptual-hash matching against candidate pages is part of what Game Title Watch monitors continuously; the free scan is the starting snapshot.
Check your own game now. The free scan looks for lookalike pages using your title, art, or description - no account, private report. Continuous monitoring: Game Title Watch from $9/month.
Related answers
- How to report a fake game site
- Someone cloned my developer name on itch
- There's a fake itch.io page of my game
Game Title Watch provides monitoring assistance, not legal advice. Findings are similarity signals that require your confirmation - they are not accusations about any website. Where an external service has flagged a page, we cite that flag; we never make such claims ourselves.