How Does a Company Even Make This Mistake

[00:00] I've been keeping up quite closely with

[00:03] everything going on in the gaming space

[00:05] over the last couple weeks. Obviously,

[00:07] I've been yapping about it a lot. I

[00:08] can't stop blabbering about it really

[00:11] because it has just been awful news out

[00:14] the wazoo every single day. It's a

[00:17] septic tank explosion that I can't look

[00:19] away from. And while I sit here just

[00:22] wideeyed like someone who just saw

[00:24] boobies for the first time, I'm now also

[00:27] seeing things like adjacent to the AAA

[00:30] gaming space falling victim to the orb

[00:33] of confusion. Dbrand, an extremely

[00:36] popular company that specializes in like

[00:39] customizable cases and skins for

[00:42] devices, has now just made a bafflingly

[00:45] awful admittance here about their highly

[00:49] anticipated companion cube product,

[00:51] which was supposed to be a case for the

[00:54] Steam Machine. Well, it turns out they

[00:57] never even had permission to make that.

[00:59] It they never had a license. They even

[01:01] spent thousands upon thousands of clams

[01:04] to put this in front of everyone's

[01:05] peepers. They sponsored Lionus Tech Tips

[01:07] here in this video as an integration for

[01:09] him to show this off and promote the

[01:12] companion cube from Dbrand. But

[01:13] meanwhile, they never even had a license

[01:15] for it. So, they went straight to like

[01:17] marketing it, doing a huge marketing

[01:19] spend, thousands of dloons to develop

[01:22] it, obviously thousands of hours to make

[01:24] it as well to manufacture it. But they

[01:27] skipped step one of getting a license,

[01:29] getting permission to do it. How is that

[01:30] possible? That is DBrain deadad. Now,

[01:33] I'm not the biggest consumer of this

[01:35] kind of product. I don't buy customized

[01:38] skins and and protective devices or

[01:40] anything like that, but I am familiar

[01:41] with Dbrand. They are a huge

[01:43] corporation. They're a big company. I'm

[01:44] most familiar with them because of

[01:46] everything that happened with them verse

[01:47] Caseify with the plagiarism stuff. That

[01:50] was some wacky I don't

[01:52] know if Caseify still exists. I don't

[01:54] know how they could after how

[01:55] embarrassingly cringe that was back

[01:57] then. But that's like the main thing I

[02:00] remember about Dbrand. I don't really

[02:02] keep up with their products, but after

[02:03] seeing this, I decided to look into it

[02:05] to see if they normally get like

[02:06] permission and stuff. And while I can't

[02:08] see if they always do, it seems like

[02:10] they love to tiptoe on the line of

[02:12] legality. Like even back in, I think it

[02:14] was 2021, they had a legal spat with

[02:17] Sony about their dark face plates Dbrand

[02:20] was doing where they even egged on Sony

[02:22] to sue them. And Sony eventually did

[02:26] cease and desist them from what I can

[02:27] tell. they stopped. So Sony said, "All

[02:29] right, bet." And big dogged them. And it

[02:33] seems like that's part of Dbrand's image

[02:34] is that they're kind of like the bad

[02:36] boys. And this is I guess just another

[02:39] marketing tactic from them to get their

[02:40] name out there like, "Oh, we're getting

[02:41] sued by these companies, which I guess

[02:44] it's effective. It does get the brand's

[02:46] name out there." And they are very

[02:47] successful. I don't really get the point

[02:50] though to be honest like especially in

[02:52] the case with companion cube because

[02:54] they spent so much money doing this and

[02:58] never had the license or permission and

[03:00] no one can really rally behind that and

[03:02] support them like you know pumping their

[03:04] fist for the little guy against Valve

[03:05] that's trying to bully them unjustly

[03:07] like they even openly admit yeah we just

[03:09] never asked we just never got permission

[03:12] like how do you like you you can't

[03:13] defend that you can't like be on

[03:15] Dbrand's side all you did was waste not

[03:17] only all your time and resourc resources

[03:18] and the time of your employees, but you

[03:21] also wasted the time of all the people

[03:23] that put in the pre-order and Now,

[03:25] it does seem all of them are getting a

[03:27] refund, so that's great, but like what

[03:30] the was the point in this whole

[03:31] charade, the this hoot and nanny? I I I

[03:34] find it hard to believe that they just

[03:36] didn't think to get a license or ask for

[03:38] permission. But anyway, let's take a

[03:39] look at their statement. As you've

[03:41] probably noticed, the Steam Machine

[03:42] Companion Cube was eviscerated from our

[03:44] website, YouTube, and other social media

[03:46] platforms last week. The blunt version

[03:48] is that we made the companion cube

[03:49] without a license from Valve. Everyone

[03:51] who purchased the companion cube will

[03:52] have their refund issued by end of day.

[03:54] Everything else beyond this is just

[03:56] detail. If you want the full story, keep

[03:58] reading. I want the full scoop, please.

[04:00] On November 12th, 2025, the day the

[04:03] Steam Machine was announced, we put up a

[04:05] concept render and signup page to see if

[04:06] anyone would be interested in a

[04:08] companion cube enclosure. Went

[04:09] moderately viral with over 15,000 people

[04:12] signing up to be notified in the first

[04:14] day. In the months that followed, we

[04:15] built the idea into something real

[04:16] without ever asking Valve if we could.

[04:19] Why though? Like why would you do that?

[04:22] So like it's fine to put up like that

[04:24] render and get interest. Hey, how would

[04:26] you guys feel if we did pursue this? But

[04:28] then why wouldn't the next step be like,

[04:29] "Oh, okay. There's clear demand here.

[04:30] You guys are hungry. You got some

[04:32] grumbly bellies and you need a companion

[04:33] cube in there. Go, don't you?" Okay,

[04:35] we'll ask Valve if we can. Like I don't

[04:37] know how being a business of Dbrand's

[04:40] size that wouldn't cross your mind. I

[04:42] believe that they did this knowing full

[04:44] well that they were playing with fire

[04:46] and that if they did get shut down, it

[04:48] would only be good for them as like no

[04:50] publicity is bad publicity and that this

[04:52] would be something people would be

[04:53] supportive of. Like, hey, Dbrand fought

[04:55] the good fight. It didn't work out, but

[04:57] we're real Dbrand diehard loyalists now

[04:59] cuz they really went for it with the

[05:01] companion cube. I'm not even seeing that

[05:02] response from anyone, even the

[05:04] biggest fans of Dbrand. Everyone's

[05:05] calling this stupid because it doesn't

[05:08] even make sense. Like it is actually

[05:09] going out of your way to be an imbecile

[05:11] to not ask the company whom you're using

[05:14] their IP if you have if you can do that.

[05:16] Like you need to get the license. Like

[05:18] that's the most basic ever everyone

[05:21] knows. We're going to regret that

[05:23] decision for a very long time. Over the

[05:25] next 7 months we poured our souls into

[05:27] this project. More than a thousand hours

[05:28] went into engineering from our

[05:30] industrial design team. 44 sets of

[05:32] injection molding tools were developed,

[05:34] one for each of the cube subcomponents.

[05:36] The entire product was redesigned from

[05:38] scratch more than once just to get it

[05:40] just to get the way it cradles the

[05:42] console exactly right. We literally

[05:44] rented out a university campus to film

[05:46] the launch video. By the end, we were

[05:48] losing money on every $99 poverty cube

[05:51] sold, but it didn't matter. This had

[05:53] turned into a passion project for the

[05:54] entire organization. So, you went

[05:57] through all of this and never once

[05:59] thought, maybe we should ask, maybe we

[06:02] should at least be safe and see if

[06:04] Valve's going to be okay with it. Let's

[06:05] try and get a license here. Somehow

[06:07] you've BLJ backward long jumped through

[06:10] the first step here, completely

[06:12] forgetting to ask about the license, and

[06:14] now you're trying to film a launch

[06:16] video, renting out a university campus

[06:18] for it. Probably directed by

[06:20] Christopher Nolan or something. And

[06:22] still no one pipes up and says, "Guys,

[06:26] should we ask permission to do this?"

[06:28] Like, we still never got the thumbs up

[06:30] from Valve, the green light. What do you

[06:32] thoughts? Thoughts? Unfortunately, being

[06:34] proud of the thing we made did not give

[06:36] us the right to make it. We launched

[06:38] around 3:00 a.m. on Monday, June 22nd.

[06:40] Overnight, it became the second fastest

[06:42] selling product in our 15-year history

[06:44] behind only the Switch 2 kill switch.

[06:46] Shortly after Valve's legal team reached

[06:48] out, they stated that the companion cube

[06:49] is Valve intellectual property, for

[06:51] which Dbrand does not have a license.

[06:53] They requested we take down the product

[06:54] and launch film immediately. This was

[06:56] entirely within their rights, and they

[06:58] were direct, fair, and respectful

[06:59] throughout. We took everything down and

[07:01] made an appeal. We asked Valve whether

[07:03] there was any way to keep the project

[07:04] alive, properly licensed with their

[07:07] blessing on their terms. They said no.

[07:09] Given our backwards approach of building

[07:11] first, asking permission later, it was a

[07:13] fair answer. That's basically the whole

[07:15] story. We made something a lot of people

[07:17] were excited about then incinerated our

[07:18] shot at bringing it to the market. It's

[07:20] a hard lesson to learn publicly. But I I

[07:23] I

[07:25] you've actually got me malfunctioning.

[07:26] How is that a lesson you needed to learn

[07:28] at all? Everyone already knows that.

[07:30] That's like basic common sense. Even if

[07:32] you've never been in business or

[07:34] anything, just boiling it down to the

[07:36] bare bones here, if you were going to

[07:38] make something based on someone else's

[07:40] work and sell it for yourself,

[07:43] don't you think like naturally your

[07:45] brain would go, maybe I should ask the

[07:47] people that own that if they'd be okay

[07:49] with it? Like even if you know nothing

[07:50] about licensing or whatever, that's like

[07:51] the most basic, you know, following the

[07:54] breadcrumbs of thoughts imaginable. Like

[07:57] it feels deliberate. It feels like they

[07:59] didn't want to ask for a license cuz

[08:01] they knew it might be a slow process,

[08:02] which means they would be late to the

[08:04] Steam the Steam Machine market. They'd

[08:06] be late to the launch. So, in order to

[08:09] be there on time, right away to

[08:10] capitalize off the hype train, they felt

[08:13] that they needed to immediately go in

[08:14] production and didn't have time to deal

[08:16] with that pesky license. So, they

[08:18] crossed their fingers and hoped for the

[08:19] best. That's what it feels like to me if

[08:22] this isn't just another one of like

[08:23] their marketing things. But, it's still

[08:24] such a stupid gamble. Like, it's still

[08:26] dumb. It goes without saying, but we'll

[08:28] say it regardless. Valve didn't do

[08:29] anything wrong here. They built a game

[08:31] franchise a lot of people love, and they

[08:32] alone get to decide how it's used. To

[08:34] everyone who was who was as excited

[08:36] about this project as we were, thank you

[08:38] and sorry. Refunds are being issued

[08:40] today. If it hasn't landed in your

[08:41] account by end of week, you know how to

[08:42] reach us. To Valve, thank you for

[08:44] Portal. Sorry for the headache. We

[08:45] should have asked first. I can at least

[08:47] appreciate that they're not trying to

[08:49] fling at Valve for this or paint

[08:51] them as the bad guys for stepping in.

[08:53] That was big of them because I thought

[08:56] when I initially read the headlines that

[08:57] they'd try and like fight back like,

[08:59] "No, why is Valve doing this? They're

[09:00] stomping all over us. This is absurd."

[09:03] But they are outright saying, "Yeah,

[09:05] Valve didn't do anything wrong. We're

[09:07] dumb." I still find it just so hard to

[09:09] believe that they wouldn't have even

[09:10] toyed with the idea of trying to get

[09:13] permission from Valve or get a license.

[09:14] So, I still believe it's one of two

[09:16] things. a a calculated marketing uh

[09:19] tactic here where they were willing to

[09:21] roll the dice and if it did go tits up

[09:23] as it inevitably did that they thought

[09:25] this would be good publicity regardless

[09:27] for the Dbrand image and it fits in line

[09:30] with how they've conducted it in the

[09:31] past like with Sony as as it appears. So

[09:36] maybe it could have been like a

[09:37] marketing thing which again I don't

[09:38] think was smart anyway cuz you devoted

[09:40] so much time and resources to this with

[09:42] so many thousands of signups. I I really

[09:44] like all you do is just lose money on

[09:46] that. I don't think it does anything for

[09:47] your brand image and it just paints you

[09:49] as dumb for it. Or it could be uh that

[09:54] they knew that if they tried to go

[09:55] through the proper channels of getting

[09:56] the licensing first for the companion

[09:59] cube in order to use the portal license

[10:01] to make the companion cube, they thought

[10:02] it would take too long and they'd miss

[10:04] this golden opportunity, this window to

[10:06] be there right away for the Steam

[10:08] Machine for the Steam Machine users and

[10:10] have this companion cube ready off RIP.

[10:12] So, just being early, they didn't they

[10:15] didn't want to take the chance of being

[10:17] too late. So, they decided, "Fuck it. We

[10:19] won't even bother with the permission of

[10:21] the license. We'll just hope they're

[10:22] cool with it." And it didn't work out.

[10:24] Both of these though are not smart.

[10:26] They're both dumb. And I can't decide

[10:28] what's worse. If they made just a bad

[10:31] business decision of knowingly just not

[10:33] getting the license, or if this is a

[10:35] company run by individuals who never

[10:37] even think to get permission first. it

[10:40] never crosses their mind like ah we're

[10:42] so ditsy and we just got so excited we

[10:44] dove right into the companion cube

[10:45] started making it going to marketing

[10:47] pushing it renting out a university

[10:48] campus and would you believe it not a

[10:50] single one of us even thought to contact

[10:52] Valve about a license ain't that the

[10:54] darnest thing like I don't know what's

[10:56] worse if they're like run by people that

[10:58] are that absent-minded or if they just

[11:00] made such a stupid decision uh about

[11:03] like knowingly avoiding the license and

[11:05] hoping for the best either way

[11:08] decision here from D brand as a company.

[11:11] This was a a wacky little thing to be

[11:12] learning about. Uh anyway, that's about

[11:14] it. See you.