Unable to download "disabled" assets?

Hello,

I have been using Unity for many years now and I have purchased well over 100 assets in my time using it.
Recently I found that some of my assets have become "disabled" and I cannot download them anymore from the package manager.

What I have seen happen most of the time is assets becoming "deprecated" and then I can't buy them anymore but still download them. But now, some assets that I have paid good money for are apparently gone for good.

For instance, this Space Skybox I bought and would have liked to use on a new project:
https://assetstore.unity.com/packages/2d/textures-materials/sky/space-skybox-clouds-52928
(The link is dead of course)


Is that normal - and why did this happen?
And do I now have to keep all of my assets stored somewhere on my hard drive in case Unity (or the developer) decides to pull some assets again?


I tried to find information about this in the forum but couldn't find anything relevant - so sorry if that has already been addressed somewhere else

Thanks!

 

It is normal. Since it is impossible to check all assets against all IP violations beforehand, any assets and publishers become permanently removed from the Asset Store as soon as it becomes clear that they violated copyright or any other IP-related rules/laws. These asset won't be available for purchase or download for anyone since they have problematic legal status.
Packages which has no legal problems but the author no longer wish to maintain them become deprecated but downloadable for any user who purchased them.

Any further questions / complaints should be aimed to the customer service, let them know that it is not clear what happened and what you expect the solution should be.

Do not use (and delete from your local storage) assets which become disabled! You're still responsible to use assets with proper legal status.

 

Actually when the asset was sold, was sold under Unity license, so is Unity that wrongly licensed and sold the asset, in this case the user is not obliged to know about any other license the asset may have or have had as the purchase is based on Unity store license.

So the user does use an asset with a permissive legal status based on the store purchase. He cant possibly know the license of every piece of code for example of the asset bought, that would not make any sense.

 

Why is this still a question?

Let's say you buy a ripped asset from RDR2.
- you release a game with it, tired and happy
- Rockstar lawyers send you a cute cease and desist letter to remove your game and remove the asset(s)
- if you deny it, they will sue you
- if after the litigation and settlement and all the work you still have some breath, you may take your above complaint to the courts and see if it stands

In short: no one cares. You're responsible, you don't have enough money to make it otherwise.

 

That may be true, but in your turn could then sue Unity for selling you this asset, there is truly no way to know if an asset does not have a valid license.

Unity is certainly responsible for selling something they not have rights to and the user downloads and use an asset based on Unity store license.

You don't really have to deny a settlement, just settle and then ask from Unity the whole projected sales amount that you would have made, they for sure should not allow just anyone sell assets to their store and work with legit and confirmed asset developers only.

That is their responsibility, not the end user one.

 

Look, I'm not a lawyer, obviously. I don't know how much the EULA would hold up in court. I don't have neither time nor money to litigate. It's easier to avoid it, just not using the potentially problematic assets. You can try and fight for a refund if you feel like to, but even if you lose the $5-$50 the dangerous assets cost, it's cheaper than going to court twice with potentially devastating outcome twice.

Obviously you do you.

 

The issue is that potentially all the asset you got from the store are problematic, so the only solution if you don't trust on the law helping based on the Unity license, then only way is to not use any asset in your game, or is always a risk.

 

This is simply not true. You also can make yourself responsible and decide how much you trust people on the Asset Store. You can decide to ignore the "too good to be true" cases where relatively high quality assets sold on dirt-cheap prices by the dozen and it's not a sale from a reputable source.
There are people on the Store who probably can be trusted. Would a Synty Studio sell a ripped asset? Well, technically possible, but it is extremely unlikely.
Proper risk assessment and mitigation is always cheaper than thousands or tens of thousands of dollars paid to the lawyers because "you had faith in the law". But again, maybe it's just me.

 

Interesting points...

I actually have a game released that uses one of the assets that is now marked as "Disabled".
In the current state of the Asset Store I would also tend to give the blame to Unity.


1st. Unity knew who bought the asset and for what price. But neither did they contact me per email that one of my assets became illegal to use, nor offer a refund for the assets. So Unity still made all the money and kept!!! that money.

2nd. Unity nowhere displays the item as "stolen" or "wrongfully acquired". They just write "disabled" without any details. The Links to the asset / the developer or the website are all down so how should I even know what the actual status is...
I just stumble upon them when I redownload assets that are no longer on my system.

3rd. (Opinion) Unity basically just prints money with the Asset Store at this point. So a basic check for integrity when one uploads an asset would not be too much to ask. And if an asset they sold turns out to be a bad apple, they should own up, refund the asset and cover any potential legal trouble... I mean, that does not sound too much to ask I think.


I just couldn't find any official information on "disabled" assets. Is it only because of legal issues or could this happen for other reasons as well?? Like can a developer choose to disable an asset whenever he wants?

Those are my lines of thought anyway. Thank you guys for providing your input on the matter

 

Developers can depreciate an asset at any time, but cant stop users from downloading the versions just before that action. So assets should always be available if legit.

 

Good to know, thanks

 

I'm really not interested discussing whom to blame (we have done it many times already), I only offered easy and cheap solution to an existing problem. I don't want to defend Unity, blame away as much as you want. But in reality it won't make your position better by any means. So... *shrug*

Contact customer support. I only know that in legal cases they disable assets, because we saw it happening. There can be myriad of reasons, I guess. And again, in average cases publishers can't ask for disable. They only can deprecate (which gives you the ability to use the assets afterward). But Asset Store rules are so rubbery and case by case basis I wouldn't be surprised if some publishers were more equal than others regarding this too.

 

Create a ticket and ask Unity Support. Deprecated assets should still be downloadable, you'd get e. g. this message:

Unfortunately, <assetname> is no longer available.

This package has been deprecated from the Asset Store. This means that new purchases of the package are not allowed and that only users who already purchased or downloaded the package before it was deprecated, are allowed to download it.

In most cases, package deprecation happens because the publisher is unable or unwilling to support the package anymore. We suggest looking for alternative packages or contacting the publisher directly.

If you've already purchased it and need to download a copy, you can do so here.​

 

before I go down this long road, with unity - has anyone received a refund for disabled assets?

I have over 89 disabled (purchased) assets that I can no longer download. NOT DEPRECATED, Disabled.

 

@NelsonHurst I got 3 assets so far that I've discovered have been disabled. Unity's acting really scammy by not notifying buyers about this. Will be writing to their support sometime next month as I got some tickets still in the pipeline. Let me know how things go for you, hope you get your refund.

 

From my experience you get a refund for 1 up to 3 months after purchase. I noticed 2 kinds of disabled assets so far: Asset was ripped and sold here. Or the asset resembled brands, eg car brands and that's why the asset got disabled. But not all assets are given the same treatment in the latter case.

 

Thanks for the info. I was going through my credit card statements and I've got some refunds automatically on some assets from Unity but it's hard to tell for which because of the price similarities. Went through all my assets and found 5 disabled assets of which I've got refunds for atleast 3 of them for sure. Will write to Unity about the other two. Let's see how it goes.

 

Bullshit... Ive lost $100 (20+) assets from this...
Well I guess now the asset store will only be for must have situations. I will no longer buy humbles or sales because I think I might need it in future...Unity has shown time and time again they will take your stuff, mess with publishers, and not even care.. Just F***ing wow...

Some assets were coding, some 3d models, some were from Unity its self... this isn't just an issue of plagiarism. Seems to be any Publisher that for what ever reason removed their account from Unity.

 

I think the real point is you keep saying assets are ripped off Stolen and put on the store.. with no prof that is the case ! When Unity Makes no mention one way or another but instead just steals/takes the access to the asset, No Email ,No Rebate, No Nothing.. It leaves me to understand Unity could get mad at me for a forum post or what ever and literally wipe $1000s of Purchased Assets or my whole Account.

Now If I got an email that said "XYZ publisher was removed from the store for selling stolen models, so we can no longer give access to said models" , I would still be upset but not at Unity.. but yeah didn't get that...

 

Why would you think people have no proof? Look at this:

https://forum.unity.com/threads/stolen-or-copied.1284983/#post-8602374

Publisher takes assets from the asset store and re-sells them on the asset store. Malber's Sea Dragon, Malber's Unka, Reallusion's Tiger, ...

 

...
Anyone who has problems with Unity, take it up with them. Nothing will be solved here, on the forums.
https://support.unity.com/hc/en-us/requests/new?ticket_form_id=65905

 

That's what you keep saying, its almost like you enjoy rubbing it in peoples faces...

 

I think you misunderstood what i meant. Of coarse there is plagiarism and stealing on the asset store..and that isn't good.. but if I own assets I should at least be notified if this is the case, not just denied access without explanation...or trolled by some person up unity's A$$ to take it & like it, that's my point.. unity respecting me as a customer.

So now i know they could/will take other assets as time goes on and likely nothing to do with them being stolen somehow. If the publisher gets in trouble for any reason all asset they published are removed is what i think is happening.. lesson learned on my part i suppose.. ill now look through the near 3000 asset i have and download any i care about.. and severely limit assets i buy in the future...lets face it nearly all i bought were me thinking that's a cool asset maybe i could use that in x-project in the future...while never even downloading it 2 yrs later.. I've probably even bought a few because of your great YouTube demos..

Posting here is me getting the word out as best i can. Even if it only helps one or two people realize they do this. Lets face it unity could care less if i complained directly..

.

 

Whatever. If you don't like what I have to say, leave me out of your whining. Nothing will be fixed by being a keyboard-hero with savior complex on the forums. Talk to Unity if you have any problems with them, the support is there to handle such problems.
I don't really get why you had to summon me here at the first place. Anyway.

 

On the contrary. Several publishers got removed for selling stolen assets after the messy coder published a video and this thread was created. Or would you prefer no information at all?

At least you can find something about a publisher. eg Rivermill Studios was on the store for years, even in bundles. But this one was removed too fast, I suspect the publisher removed himself, but I don't know. Or Arkaya Venture Limited has quite the collection of pricey assets, yet they are stolen. Golden Rock GTeam is selling characters which look like the Koroks from Nintendo. These will definitely get you into trouble if you use them. Would you prefer having information that you can find or having no information at all. Fact is: People won't get their hard earned money back while the reaction time of Unity is very questionable.

 

IMO, the proper course of action by Unity would be to attach a notice advising us that a claim has been made against the asset, indicating that it may be illegal in most countries to use some or all of the asset in a project for sale. And then Unity should either reimburse us for their error, or allow us access to the disputed property that we purchased.

FWIW, I would also like some transparency as to how much money Unity makes on these fraudulent assets they sell, per year.

 

Unity has been silently refunding me to my Credit Card but without notifiying for each asset. So I need to convert that amount to my local currency and try to guess which disabled asset they refunded (Guess work when two assets cost the same amount). I haven't got refunds for 3 assets still AFAIK (have got silent refunds for 7), I've written to Unity support today for the remaining 3 assets to be refunded since I didn't download them either. I have gone through all the 1000's of assets I owned just a few weeks ago to find the one's that are disabled but it seems in the time from then to now, more assets got disabled which i was made aware thanks to @Rowlan . So thank you Rowlan.

 

Interesting! First I've heard of that.

 

Your right, i shouldn't have mentioned you, itll never happen again...
just thought once you saw what it was happening with legit publishers and not just scam artists.. (rivermill, indie g , Unity's own store assets, many others...)you might have come to a similar conclusion as me and think yeah what Unity is doing is not right.. but that is not how unity programs its forum bots..

Im not as mad over $50+ (just a guess as they removed the cost but left the pics and description) lost , or the other 30+ free assets lost as much as the treatment from Unity. So im not sure how telling unity i want $50 helps much.. So id rather complain here and lets others see what Unity's new stance on asset purchases is.. so ill accept my keyboard-hero status...

 

It should be refunded. Unity needs to take the hit and this will force them to review content better.

 

On the contrary there are known examples it's just that most of the time this kind of issue is resolved quietly behind the scenes. Typically one company will contact the other with a letter asking for the asset's removal and it's only if that doesn't happen that it will proceed further with takedowns and eventually a lawsuit.

https://www.pcgamesn.com/7-days-die-greenlight-page-removed-steam-over-killing-floor-kerfuffle

Agreed, at least on the part about taking a hit because it's their fault, but that's not an excuse for someone to be ignorant on intellectual property laws. Compare the earlier image of the DeLorean to the image below of the real car. It's very clearly an exact replica of the car. It even has the manufacturer's logo on it.

Spoiler: An Actual DeLorean

If anyone believes that it's perfectly fine to use that asset that's just as much on them as the store, and that's how it will be viewed both by the owner of the work and a court of law if it somehow reaches that point which it almost never will. Unity definitely shouldn't have allowed it on there but they shouldn't have purchased it either.

 

Im not mad or upset (at Unity) about stolen or plagiarized assets... If thats the case (of which i believe the 30+ disabled asset is not ) a simple notication by Unity would have been enough..

Rivermill studio whick has been on the store for years, was in recent unity sales/bundles of which i owned several assets, Indie G, and even Unity build free assets have been "Disabled"... These are just a few notables off the top of my head...

it took me 3 days but i now have all that i didnt lose downloaded to my ssd drive all 1.5 tb of them.. sad that i feel i have to do this not to lose asset i though i owned.

Imo even if unity or the publisher backed out of a deal together ,purchases shouldn't disappear.. Make them depreciated and could even fully delete them off the store after a certain time period to save server space (with an email notication that they are about to disappear for good.)

 

Once upon a time Unity disabled an asset if the developer no longer wished to support it but as far as I'm aware (and able to determine through official resources) that's no longer the way it's handled.

https://support.unity.com/hc/en-us/articles/205754295-How-do-I-remove-my-asset-from-the-Asset-Store-
https://support.unity.com/hc/en-us/...-the-Asset-Store-Where-can-I-download-it-now-

From a legal standpoint they have no choice in the matter. In fact Unity's license agreement (Section 2.3) allows them to demand you delete the copies you're keeping too.

https://unity.com/legal/as-terms

 

Trolling for the fun of trolling while not even comprehending what im saying ? So was unity pirating assets and then publishing it themselves on the asset store? I completely understand depreciating them so new users can't try to use old assets on new unity versions then complain about unity being broken.., but why disable them ? By all means if Unity determines i got stolen assets and they request i remove them, i would be fine with that.

 

I fully understand what you're trying to say. I'm just pointing out where and how you're wrong.

A takedown notice prevents both the sale and distribution of an asset. Complying with it means removing it from the servers that you would be downloading it from. Once a takedown has been issued you have a short period of time to take the asset offline and if you don't do that you face a lawsuit and any damages the company claims.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notice_and_take_down

 

Wow you are just simply not listening.. im not talking about asset that were stolen (which you clearly are, as you're mentioning take down notices) but with Unity published/made assets and other time proven devs..

 

Which Unity published/made and "time proven devs" are you referring to?

eg Book of the Dead and the Snaps assets can still be downloaded, they are only deprecated.

 

Just a few of Many.. its a pain to try and find all of them, but you get the idea Look At the Original Asset dates... one publisher was around for 7 + yrs and in several sales and the other for at least 3 yrs, plus Unity has removed a handful of their own older assets.. Im sure you all will still say its me making stuff up still though...

 

Indie_G was selling assets from Call of Duty and other games. Rivermill Studios was selling content ripped from youtube videos. They aren't "time proven devs" as you call it, time has proven they are something different.

Unity's own assets from 2011 and 2012 are way outdated. There's no telling when they got disabled. Besides the built-in shaders can be downloaded here.

 

Proof ? Indie g asset i owned were mostly code assets..
Both been around for years and rivermill was on multiple sales propped up by unity itself so...

Again its not a matter of how old an asset is. its that when we buy or get an asset its in out list of asset we have access to. Older stuff yeah remove it if its wasted storage space.. but at minimum they should at least give a warning that this asset will be deleted forever.. ive always assumed once i get an asset i have it forever, even if it never gets updated to current unity version... Alot of the time i use older assets for specific things, maybe a cool looking model, or ui element,, place holders or to reference how something was coded or even updating code to work with current projects.. ive spent $1000s on asset store, and realize now Unity can and will delete my purchases when ever they feel like it for what ever reason ,legit or not.. so in return i will no longer purchase cool assets that i "might" use in the future...

Also interesting coming from a dev that was accused of ripping off a terrain path tool.. that you are so quick to accuse others of the possible fake allegations without proof...just think.. if it was powerful dev like the owners of Gaia that came after you, your account would have just been deleted without a second thought...

 

Well, now you're just trolling. You asked, I told you why those assets are disabled. Unity will not tell you that, which is also understandable for several reasons. Do you have a specific question that's worth anyone's time?

 

Interesting so if YOU say an asset was ripped off it just is, with no proof, end of discussion.

I'm not trying to troll but you all are sure set in thinking that you're right about everything all the time.. simply because your opinion matters more.

Isn't that the whole point of my complaint that Unity won't tell me why some assets get deleted and some don't, as a matter of fact I have disabled assets from developers that are still active.. so did they just get a hand slap for a stolen asset ? or is something else going on..

What I see coming in the future with this precedent, is that developers will simply disable assets when they come out with the version 2... With little or no warning.. I'm pretty sure 99% of us don't keep all our assets on a hard drive all the time. So that means the developer can basically say pay up or you lost it. To Me this is just going to lead to shady practices by developers.. kind of like UFPS or Gaia putting their assets on humble bundles and then depreciating them or having version 2 a month later as a selling gimmick.

 

Only Unity can disable assets. Publishers can only deprecate them.

 

I doubt there is anything really nefarious going on. I'm probably $3000-$4000 into bought assets on the store and the only ones that were ever disabled were ones that were free. One creator did about free 15-20 tree packs, and from what I can guess, they used leaf textures that weren't CC0. I'm not a lawyer, but the legal situation concerning this type of stuff is insanely complicated and not ' what I think is right '. Unity is a multi-billion dollar company, to think they didn't have a lawyer do due diligence on this issue is silly.

 

So first time I seen this post as it just happen to me, I had an asset that had very few sales, also used in a popular Steam game, asset was made years back by the developers them selves...... The asset about 2 years ago, was deprecated, all of a sudden BAM.... its disabled..... The other day..

Very few people own Mad Map.... it was used in Hurt World.... and yes the developers made this tool, it was one of the first non destructive terrain tools for Unity.... So, why all of a sudden did Unity disable this?? because users like myself still use it and was not going to buy other tools ??? I do anyways, but still... (Just speculating as I don't trust this anymore) This is why I rarely buy from the store, to much scamming going on.. Thank god I'm retired and use Unreal way more , I don't have to deal with this... but I still like to know what happen to a tool I have thousands of hours in and still use.....

I like proof, why recently Mad Map was disabled after being nearly 2 years deprecated... I sent a ticket in and so far no reply... First time I had any asset disabled.... I been using it for years.... even with client work.. in the past, so pretty annoyed here... I made alot of custom code for it as well over the years I used it.. Like I do many assets..

https://store.steampowered.com/app/393420/Hurtworld/

CowTrip was the developer who sold it here about 4-5 years ago I believe. Maybe longer.

if the developers still come here, please let me know what happen here.. Unity prolly won't bother letting me know..


PS: First time I had this happen and I been here well before the asset store.. So I didn't think Unity could/would do this.... if its a copy right issue, I like to know how? when the developer made it for there own popular game and it was on the store for a bit , and then the other day disabled out of the blue, so why now, and I like to know from the developers, Unity or someone, to see what happen here. its pretty odd, that coming from a popular known game, that this would happen...

 

Nah developers can't disable them..... Unity has the power only. Developers as it is, have little control over much.... on the asset store..

 

This is what users should expect nothing less, I agree.. I have thousands of hours into custom code, work, and much more into one I just had disabled, and I highly doubt it was copy righted, other wise there game should be off Steam as well, since the tool was widely used in there popular game, I think some asset are being removed to make room and if they had low sales and been deprecated for a little awhile... a few years even. I may be wrong, but I have seen alot of nonsense on the asset store over the years, about half of the assets should be taken down... as it is.. But if they came back at me, with proof, to why such and such asset become disabled, I like to know why so I can decide what to do moving forward, since I use the damn thing. if I wasted alot of money/time, I will for sure, stop buying anything from Unity again.. as all trust will be lost ... but a simple answer would fix these issues. leaving us hanging, just fuels flames to the fire.... just my opinion anyways.

 

That is the least they could do
They don't care they profit, everyone else loses... Which is why they ignore us.. I won't trust anything Unity, unless I know the developer well... Tired of the nonsense.

 

Update on my disabled asset, its actually NO copy right issue and the developer has no idea why it was disabled.... The developer for Mad Map now added it to GIT HUB.... Unity shame, shame, you need to get this fixed, we are seeing more disabled assets and for no reason... This is ethically wrong and shady behavior.... You will make me think twice about buying anything direct from the asset store moving forward...

PS: Thanks to the developer for adding to GIT hub and replying so fast..... Hopefully other disabled assets this happens to as well, since Unity wants to plays games and ignore us...

 

imagine my surprise...
ive noticed the same where i have an asset disabled while the publisher is still actively selling assets on the store.. which is why i came to the conclusion that developers had an option to tell unity to disable them.. as some here has said thats not an option.. but i see no proof this is the case, especially with publishers that have some pull with the store. ether way it just sets a bad precedent that they do this.

i guess when you take on a CEO that use to work for EA we shouldnt be surprised.
coming soon... all devs must include in game loot boxes... not optional... ‍[Joke..]