List of ripped models (stolen models) on the asset store

Hello.

I see a lot of stolen models from different games. As far as I know, Unity cannot remove stolen content on its own, since the copyright holder has to make a report, but large corporations don't care about this until you release the game with their models. So the main problem here is that game developers cannot use them in projects, they will immediately be banned from Steam or another platform in the DMCA report.

This publisher sells content from the Astellia game:
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/characters/creatures/flying-dragon-animated-199622

And the same guys selling models from World of Warcraft, have one sketchfab page.
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/characters/humanoids/fantasy/orc-tribe-190139

I'm sure everyone who played wow knows Deathwing, here's just an edited version(but wings, armor, head, and most parts exactly the same as in Wow)
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/characters/creatures/black-dragon-fantasy-191158

Another Deathwing with small edits: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/characters/animals/war-fire-dragon-122305

Wyvern directly from Wow, nothing changed at all: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/characters/creatures/wild-wyvern-123464

Dota 2 rips: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/characters/cruel-reaper-169657

I hope honest publishers help me find more stolen content because these rippers' actions are disrupting the store's economy and destroying many new games. So be careful.

Best Regard!

 

Autor model screenshots from the portfolio: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/8lrJ8w
and Unity store ripped model: https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/characters/creatures/dragon-animated-199314

See for yourself.

 

Dota 2 ogre model: https://assetstore.unity.com/packag...tures/fantasy-chess-rpg-character-ogre-161554

 

Thanks for doing this, I hadn't heard of Astellia before. Good thing I only bought 2 of 3D Voxel's models so far, they do look really good, and I guess I should have expected <$10 for something that good to be a scam

I reported them to Unity and gave a bad review.

 

I already created a thread here about 3d voxel:

https://forum.unity.com/threads/is-3d-voxel-a-legit-publisher.1159646

Thanks for the confirmation, I almost would have bought something.

And I reported it to Unity. The publisher site is stolen and the logo is stolen. From the look of the models and the price and the poor description it's safe to say the rest is stolen as well. Nobody in their sane mind makes that kind of assets and such a poor description.

 

Here's what the support replied:



Just to give an example:

Unity Asset Store:


5 seconds Google search for "Astellia" and click on "Pictures":

 

damn !!

I have a near 5000$ models collection and this is crazy bad

 

I really do wonder why it's still up

 

How do we know they cannot sell the models ?
You should actually mail the Astellia game owner.

But still damn I wanted to buy this ghost.

 

I bought two of their models. I really hope they aren't illegal. If that's the case then I'm done with purchasing from the Asset Store. It simply can't be trusted.

 

Here's some more proof about Astellia:

 

I had purchased 2 of the models. On them I left a 1 star review saying they were stolen. The company deprecated them immediately. They didn't flag my review as slander or respond to dispute it, just deprecated the models.

I don't really want to buy them all just to do that and force them to take themselves down.

 

I already confirmed that the Logo and the company address were stolen. I actually don't care about the pirated models so much, rather that Unity still sells them.

 

Already talk with a guy why created some models for this game. 3D voxel have nothing with Astellia game

 

The Messy Coder made a video with some additional info:

 

Since The Messy Coder showed the deprecated Flying Dragon, here's how it looked like before it was deprecated:

Asset Store Link:

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/characters/creatures/flying-dragon-animated-199622

Web Archive Link:

https://archive.is/j1IfJ

 

The sketchfab account used for ArtCoding's Black Dragon, is actually the SAME sketchfab account for 3D Voxel's assets!!!!

Apparently ArtCoding are a 3D art school, so is this the work of 1 rogue student?????? Or could there be something more at work here?

https://sketchfab.com/CDNetwork

Other assets from ArtCoding use a different sketchfab account: https://sketchfab.com/artcoding

 

Great news, we have updates and part 2 video is live:

 

@TheMessyCoder Great videos! If Unity feels like they hold no responsibility with facilitating the sale of stolen assets then that puts us developers in a very precarious position. At least you recommended that we do our due diligence before purchasing any models.

 

Reply from Unity support regarding 3d voxel:

So there's no automatic contacting you nor automatic refund. That's what I take from this.

 

Hey all,

Thank you for flagging this content to us. It has been removed and is under investigation. For those who have purchased this content, we will have a personal response for you soon.

 

Thanks. And exactly, whilst I do believe that it's Unity's job to act and resolve these issues, we all need to make sure we double check whatever we are about to purchase. Also after buying something, if it looks fishy then report it immediately.

 

Thanks a lot! This means a lot to honest sellers and the entire community.

 

I was contacted by ArtCoding to say that it was 2 students that hacked accounts and uploaded the stolen assets.
If they were students then ArtCoding should have their real identification info (if they used their real IDs), and as its obvious that they are also the same people behind the fake 3DVoxel publisher page, which has the more serious crime of Identity Theft and not just copyright, I told ArtCoding to provide that information to Unity and the authorities.

No idea if they have provided that info yet, but Art Coding did say they expelled the students.
However unless they manually went and removed all the content that these 'students' uploaded and informed all their customers that they would receive full refunds for those assets, they needed to be taken down.

So basically ArtCoding admitted that the content was illegal, however was the fault of 2 individuals who hacked sketchfab accounts.

Regardless, they first said that they gave students access to upload directly to the asset store, and they were not checking due to not having capacity to check, so that is dodgy. You cannot give someone else access to your publisher account to upload assets.

The only accounts they said the students hacked were sketchfab but that CDN sketchfab account still has assets from Astellia game listed there.

So if they have the account details for Sketchfab then those assets need to be removed from there also to show that they are removing the illegal assets themselves.

I hope its all true and that Art Coding manage to sort their stuff out, otherwise they are doing the long con and thats even worse

 

I have a related question: Is Unity allowed to sell brand cars? Take e. g. this asset here:


https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/vehicles/land/super-cars-1-199991

It's the Ferrari F8 Tributo. The description even states this:


I mean, one is definitely not allowed to use that car anywhere unless you pay fees to Ferrari. Shouldn't that be mentioned on the Asset Store page? By the way regarding the description: 1024x1024 is usually ripped from what I've noticed on the Asset Store. A serious publisher of such kind of models definitely uses higher resolution.

By the way, that model looks very much identical to this one on SketchFab:


by DJS

which has a lot of "free" car models which I guess are pirated.

Actually from the look of it - not saying it is - both seem to be pirated.

I already reported that asset (Ticket #1099340), it's up to Unity to check it out. What I want to say with that: It might be beneficial to demand front/left/top wireframe images on the Asset Store page for several reasons, not only in order to compare it with SketchFab models.

One more thing to note: Either the package display is broken or that car on the Asset Store has exactly 1 texture which is floor.jpg




It would also be nice if the Asset Store had some kind of quality standard for file naming. Mesh is called "#1.fbx" etc

 

Just to add to the above post, if I were Unity I'd take a closer look at the Unlock Game Assets publisher:

https://assetstore.unity.com/publishers/32212

I already complained long time ago, but Unity still keeps on selling those assets. Those seem to be from the CSR2 game. If pirates think alike one might compare assets ...

Bugatti Chiron of DJS on sketchfab:

Unlock Hyper Car 03 by UnlockGameAssets:

Or to compare wire frames:



I don't have actual proof and DJS might as well have taken that from the Unity Asset Store. There seems to be other cars in there from the UAS. But let's think rational: Nobody in their sane mind sells such a car for $5 on the Unity Asset Store.

And when you follow the comments in the reviews of the car:

https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/3d/vehicles/unlock-hypercar-03-118696#reviews

You'll get the source as well:

 

Maybe I just woke up in a Bad Mood LOL ...

I dimly remember a few months ago, I somehow came across a plugin search result, when I was looking for Blender stuff. So, I just did a single search for blender sketchfab model ripper.

Honestly, I am starting to think, Why are " we" letting people get away with this stuff, just because they might be in a different country? Maybe Unity and sketchfab and any other site(s) selling game models could all get together and do something about this? Maybe if there were some real consequences of doing this kind of stuff. " It might stop "

I read something a few weeks ago, that really hit me. It is simple, yet profound at the same time.

" When people talk about travelling to the past, they worry about radically changing the present by doing something small, but barely anyone in the present really thinks that they can radically change the future by doing something small. "

 

The main problem is that those ripped models are sold way underpriced so that the real artists can't keep their prices and drop the Unity platform. Already seen it happening.

 

Just to add to the above post. Even if that "Unlock Hypercar 03" were created by the publisher himself, there's one thing one is definitely not allowed to do. That car ist the Bugatti Chiron, a name which I actually only found out by that asset on Sketchfab.

The thing you aren't allowed to do: Sell the design of a car model on your own without paying license fees. Comparison between the model and the real car, first picture I found after a simple google search:

 

What happen if I had bought some assets from these publisher, and I have public my game?
They are banned from Asset Store, but I do not know if some model that I bought, are illegal? And which one that I can use?
I spent a lot of time to modify their model, and texture, for my game. And now everything will be lost?

 

You'd better not use these assets in a final product. You know what Blizzard does with P-Servers or bot providers and I think they would not hesitate to sic their lawyers and lawsuits on you if you use ripped content from their games.

Unity has made the right first move, but they now need to release a clear statement that:

(a) existing assets in the asset store will be reviewed for copyright infringement
(b) new assets will more strictly be controlled before being added to the asset store
(c) assets/publishers that are reported in increased numbers or with overwhelming evidence will be freezed immediately and reviewed
(d) buyers of assets deleted due to copyright infringement will be informed immediately in order to be able to take actions
(e) refunds for assets deleted due to copyright infringement will be performed automatically
(f) not only the author or rights holder should be able to request the deletion of ripped assets. Unity should follow up on all reports.

It is in Unity's interest to maintain an ecosystem where buyers can safely purchase assets and use them in final products without the risk of having to remove them or, in the worst case, being sued. If you can't trust Unity on this, there's no reason to use the Asset Store. Also, several have already noted that due to the cheap copies real artists are forced out of the marketplace as they have no chance to enforce their higher prices.

 

Because all assets from publisher: "ARTCODING" and "Rain Entertainment" I bought from Asset Store become "Unavailable" now. I think Unity deleted all content from these publisher.

First I need Unity Asset Store should let me know:

- What Asset from them that I can still use. And what I cannot use.
Because not 100% his asset is stolen, maybe the one that I bought still good?
This is really important because I spent a lot of time to that Asset: I repaint the texture, modify the mesh, and make more animation!

- In the future, if I release my game on some store: Steam, Appstore... and somebody claim I steal their model. Could I give the Receipt/Invoice to prove that I bought it from Unity Asset Store. At that time Unity will say something to help me, or just: "I dont care about the content you bought, talk to the publisher". Of course if I known that asset is stolen, I will not use it (and will ask for refund). But what happen if I do not know? Will my game dead because of this?

 

Salvatore wrote you'll get a personal response from Unity soon. Would be interesting if you could share it.

Unity won't care. They'll tell you that you have to file a DMCA takedown notice if you are the content owner.

 

The Unlock sports car #06 vs the BMW Z4


Everyone have fun using that in a commercial game.

Thanks to the reviewer who stated the car name 10 months ago.

 

There are many publisher that provided very good Assets.
But the description are very poor, misspelling. And the price is low.
And they never update or add another assets.

For example, I want to buy models from this guy:
Alan Studio - Asset Store (unity.com)

But I worry if they are legal or not

 

i hope they do provide more protections for us legal purchasee license consumers, I didnt have an idea that artcoding was fraud, i thought they were tied to Torchlight development and were legit

sheesh

 

Yes, I think Unity Asset Store should provide us - something to protect our game in the future.

Someday, if one publisher on the store go crazy, he see that one of his asset live in a very successful game in Apple Store. Then he take the asset down, and claim Apple that game use his asset. Apple will send an email to Unity to confirm that, and if Unity say nothing --> The game will die.

 

I think what Unity can do is provide a licensee code which is included in a license.txt for each asset, this code should be able to be used by Unity database to verify purchase from a company like Apple to unity, perhaps in an automated database function, the code would be generated and visible on every import, and should an asset be pulled the license can also be pulled up via an invoice history list per each account for each user, which can be saved in pdf format or somethin to show companies like apple in the event this happens.... i dunno

 

I guess the best thing to do is report assets to ferrari. See how fast things go 0 to 60 then, haha.

 

if its stolen work you can't use no matter what.... BUT, IT MUST be proven, meaning, if the work is copy rights on it... and most of the times its the name that is not the model,.. Unity users clearly don't understand, the law.. Speak to a lawyer, as a professional for nearly 30 years, I have to have contracts for all of my work, 3d included .... code etc...

So I cant give you legal advice , other than to speak to a lawyer.... but the statement I said above, is common practice... Don't NOT trust people here, to say something is STOLEN, they don't have proof that it is...I see people all the time, THINK things are STOLEN because they look like something else, IT DOES NOT matter, you can do this all you want....

You can make crap that is from World of Warcraft and SELL it, you just can't use anything that is COPY RIGHT protected by Said company.... Now do I personally do that ? no.. but , its NOT ILLEGALLY....... kids just don't understand how laws work, if you spoke to lawyers, in this industry you would understand... and now what you can and cant do...

Also don't trust people, UNLESS you see the actually COPY RIGHT and the actually OWNER showing PROOF of wireframes of the Authors work...... This is why Unity won't bother either, because so many people don't understand, what is legal and what is NOT..

Now there is some bad practices, sure, and I believe some of this is....but it does NOT mean its ILLEGAL....


Now Unity should and will do something, if the Author, company, comes forward to show proof... Which sounds like they did... Otherwise, I see some users in this thread, saying you can't make a BMW, or some other car, which is not true at all... as long as the user make the car, it does not matter...... the car companys own the "NAMES" (Also, some modelers, like myself, I can sell Ford, GM Etc, in my games and use there names, since I have permission..

So, people jump the gun to fast... But Unity should be aware, and the Author incase, someone was stealing.. So sounds like the company and Unity where involved, so that is why Unity I bet took it completely down... Which was the right thing to do. But they cant, just because someone said, it looks like this or that....


So this matters more so than anything, art is another story, as long as someone did not ACTUALLY steal, the model from a game, and RESELL it.. Like it sounds like happen here.

 

I hate to say it but Unity asset store is a haven for the inexperience and bad behavior..... This is why I always would tell folks, to ONLY buy art assets from KNOWN artist....... I had consulted to many times for developers, companys, investors, only for Unity asset store , art assets to be UNUSABLE, looks can deceive you guys, that may not know better on how to optimize 3d art assets, which is VERY common on the store.... Also, you will get people who may steal a 3d model from another artist, or game, make changes, and re-texture, or w/e and sell it..



So again, only buy from KNOWN artist, I personally as an artist don't buy any art assets, but when I would consult, I would tell people to HIRE only artist who been around, with a good rep..

This industry is smaller than you THINK it is....Good artist names go around fast..... ask your artist friends, to look at the work, that you buy.... I have people to this day always bugging me to check them out, ones they buy, or ones they hire from artist...


this way you won't waste a ton of money.... .. believe me investors, developers I watch them waste THOUSANDS on JUNK and Yes possible stolen art, or copies of art from other games, which is not illegal but bad practices.


Unity SHOULD be making it......PRACTICE, to that ARTIST show WIREFRAMES..

We do this in the industry, as a Senior for years in my position, I REFUSED and many other bosses, REFUSED to look at there employees , contractors work, ...Unless they have WIREFRAME shots..... Turn Tables, and more..... No idea why Unity does not MAKE this happen.....there is NO way in HELL you can tell a 3d model is any good , just by looking at the damn thing...

You NEED WIREFRAMES...... Period

another reason stolen, and junk is sold on the ASSET STORE for art.....Sorry but its the TRUTH.... I hate seeing people losing money because of this, but this is why I always have spoke up , ask anyone who I did work for, consulted for, and they wonder why there games run like crap..... I see a models, that had so called modular buildings, there DOOR frame had 15 unique materials...... Yes 15....for a DAMN door frame.... Unity didn't seem to care.or, they aren't paying enough attention...

. This is NOT usable in any game....


So my point, becarefull who you buy from....

 

to make Dragons, takes HOURS of work, so its a red flag, when I see anything 3d sold for 10-20$......

I made a few in my career and I had over 100+ hours in it, no way in hell would I sell for 10$

 

That's actually what Unity suggests, reply:

I do wonder though what the reason was that Unity finally removed the Unlock publisher.

 

Just policy to not get involved as much as possible, gives them more time to do other jobs and remain profitable in this part of the company. I don't think it's malice FWIW, just a problem no-one wants. Most digital stores do have similar problems.

 

I received no personal response yet. IS this still ongoing?

 

Thanks for sharing. I did not received any such email. I have several of Rain Entertainments assets.

 

Oh my god! !!!!!!
I haven't played wow, I just saw that the model animations are very good and the price is not expensive, so I bought it. I bought 29 models for about 250 dollars. What should I do now? I didn't received any email from Unity support,will I get any refund from the Unity?

 

I'm glad to hear this.
Because I buy several hundred dollars of assets in the mall every month, so far I have bought about five thousand dollars of resources. This incident made me very afraid that the resources I bought were stolen from other games. then a lot of money was wasted in vain. If these resources can be refunded, I can continue to buy them with confidence.
So far I bought about 30 assets from the unity asset store are unavailable. one from the publisher Aniworld Design, 29 models from the publisher 3D VOXEL, and 2 from the publisher ARTCODING. And all purchase date are after May 1.So I guess I could get the refund of these assets.
Thanks very much!