What is happening?

[BANDERLOGIE 4]

What a disgusting attitude towards the players. More than a week has passed since the removal of the game from Steam and not a single comment on this from the developer. Why did you delete the game? Where did the K-700 disappear? Will the game be further supported and developed in general?

[Eversman 63]

@BANDERLOGIE welcome to Spintires and oovee.

[Unster 372]

Oovee is facing some legal matter, most likely a copyright claim regarding a vehicle in the game.  But I agree Zane should say something, whatever he's allowed to say.  It would be better and more respectful than this complete silence.

[Alex Cameron 25]

9 hours ago, Unster said:

Oovee is facing some legal matter, most likely a copyright claim regarding a vehicle in the game.

Maybe you shouldn't spread empty rumors? Because of such reflections, dozens of people on Steam are SURE that this is a fact. I have thoughts on this, and based on facts, but I still keep quiet.
Lately, the game has been doing well in terms of content, won't you agree? This is not counting the mistakes. I think it won't be long to wait, soon there will be something very interesting.

[Unster 372]

@Alex CameronIt's not an empty rumor.  I'm just connecting the dots and the little that Zane has revealed to me.  Another possibility for Steam's removal of ST is that Spintires.exe has been flagged by some people's anti-virus programs as being infected (not for me).  But I think the copyright case is more likely, since a false positive case of a virus should be cleared up in no time, and Zane would be allowed to talk about it, but he could be muzzled if facing a legal claim.

[Unster 372]

Here's some clues as to what's going on:

https://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pno=91249491

https://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pno=91248894

Long story short, Oovee and Saber have an ongoing dispute regarding who owns the rights to Spintires and MudRunner and both have filed a claim against the other.  Oovee's case is ongoing, while Saber's case has been suspended.

So if Saber is a bit on the losing side with its claims as it appears, it wouldn't surprise me if they've filed some claim with Steam against the sale of Spintires which took the game down.  This part is my speculation.  It could also be unrelated.  It's possible some Chinese or Russian truck manufacturer found something to complain about, but the timing seems suspicious with the 2 cases above having seen recent activity (Dec. 2020).

It's unfortunate that Spintires, MudRunner, and SnowRunner can't just co-exist and two companies leave each other alone.  I think that would be in everyone's interest.

[Fairey Gannet 50]

9 hours ago, Unster said:

Here's some clues as to what's going on:

https://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pno=91249491

https://ttabvue.uspto.gov/ttabvue/v?pno=91248894

Long story short, Oovee and Saber have an ongoing dispute regarding who owns the rights to Spintires and MudRunner and both have filed a claim against the other.  Oovee's case is ongoing, while Saber's case has been suspended.

So if Saber is a bit on the losing side with its claims as it appears, it wouldn't surprise me if they've filed some claim with Steam against the sale of Spintires which took the game down.  This part is my speculation.  It could also be unrelated.  It's possible some Chinese or Russian truck manufacturer found something to complain about, but the timing seems suspicious with the 2 cases above having seen recent activity (Dec. 2020).

It's unfortunate that Spintires, MudRunner, and SnowRunner can't just co-exist and two companies leave each other alone.  I think that would be in everyone's interest.

Well, what Oovee is doing in this matter shouldn't be our concern. Whatever it is happening, we, as players and partly testers, can support our developer by giving ideas, how to improve their product. Giving away this kind of information can bring whole lot of speculation and harmful info clutter, and this is not in our best interest, as well as developers. If this is really the thing, they don't need more troubles right now. I think if @Zane (Oovee) would want us to know stuff, he would tell us here, or on discord. You know, officially. I am also concerned, true, but until top brass won't tell things - I assume they don't want to do that. And I respect that.

[Unster 372]

@Fairey Gannet You also need to think of the possibility that Zane would like to say something but he can't.  That is actually the situation we are in.

Anyway, this information should shed some light on what's going on and put to rest the idea that Oovee just decided to abandon the game or ignore the community.  I think it's helpful to know.

[Fairey Gannet 50]

17 hours ago, Unster said:

@Fairey Gannet You also need to think of the possibility that Zane would like to say something but he can't.  That is actually the situation we are in.

Anyway, this information should shed some light on what's going on and put to rest the idea that Oovee just decided to abandon the game or ignore the community.  I think it's helpful to know.

I actually never thought that devs would abandon both game and us. Too much effort, quality contetn and big changes was pumped out lately to ditch it now, in my opinion at least. Being unable to tell anything is possiblility that I personally never thought of, however. Well, time will tell I guess.

[BANDERLOGIE 4]

On 2/8/2021 at 1:18 PM, Unster said:

So if Saber is a bit on the losing side with its claims as it appears, it wouldn't surprise me if they've filed some claim with Steam against the sale of Spintires which took the game down. 

Why OOVEE not do the same? Why is Mudrunner still on sale?

[Alex Cameron 25]

5 hours ago, BANDERLOGIE said:

Why OOVEE not do the same? Why is Mudrunner still on sale?

Because this is just guesswork.

[Unster 372]

8 hours ago, BANDERLOGIE said:

Why OOVEE not do the same? Why is Mudrunner still on sale?

I think Oovee has more copyright vulnerability with the original grills on trucks.  Perhaps that's how Saber was able to get at Oovee, if that's what happened.

[Unster 372]

I now doubt the situation has anything to do with truck copyright or a possible virus in the exe (probably a false positive) but everything to do with the aforementioned battle between Oovee and Saber.  There has been an update at the US Trademark and Patent Office.  Oovee's motion against Saber is now suspended, and there's a pending decision at the London Court of International Arbitration that will decide who owns what and who gets paid what.  My guess is that ST will either come back as an Oovee product or disappear indefinitely as Saber-owned intellectual property, since Saber has no reason to bring it back with MudRunner and SnowRunner already out in the market.