:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/48644741/Crashlands_2.0.0.0.0.jpg)
A pirated version of Crashlands, a game co-developed by a 23-year-old man battling stage 4 cancer, is being sold on Amazon's mobile games store, the game's makers said this afternoon.
Built by Sam Coster and his two brothers (a studio called Butterscotch Shenanigans) Crashlands just launched last Thursday for Windows PC, iOS and Android. The $4.99 listing for the game on Amazon is not theirs, they warn, and they are petitioning Amazon to have it removed.
"Someone pirated the APK and uploaded it onto Amazon," the team wrote on the game's subreddit. "In the meantime, buyer beware."
From this conversation with Amazon's Twitter help account, it appears Butterscotch Shenanigans notified Amazon of the piracy this morning. As of publication time, the game was still available on Amazon.
Helpful fans are bombing the game's listing with 1-star user reviews calling out the piracy allegations.
Crashlands is billed as a crafting role-playing game with heavy doses of humor. Pitched on Steam Greenlight last June, it was approved in just 42 hours. We profiled Sam Coster and his brothers, Seth and Adam, on their development journey back in July, and Sam wrote extensively of his experiences in December. For more, see this gameplay video of Crashlands below.
