Schedule 1’s Copyright Infringement Accuser is Getting Review Bombed on Steam

Schedule 1's Copyright Infringement Accuser is Getting Review Bombed on Steam



Summary

  • The Drug Dealer Simulator series is facing negative reviews on Steam primarily due to a copyright investigation against Schedule 1.
  • The original game still has Positive overall reviews, but negative feedback is rising.
  • Fans accuse Movie Games S.A. of “bullying,” sparking backlash.

The Drug Dealer Simulator series, whose publisher has launched a copyright infringement investigation against Schedule 1, is seeing a wave of negative reviews popping up on Steam. This backlash from Schedule 1 fans in the wake of its recent launch is causing a big drop in lifetime user rating percentages for both Drug Dealer Simulator games.

Developed by Byterunners and published by Movie Games S.A., Drug Dealer Simulator and Drug Dealer Simulator 2 were originally released in 2020 and 2024, respectively. Though the original game is still showing solid all-time review scores, both games combined have not matched the instant popularity of Schedule 1, a co-op crime simulator that launched on March 24 and has been consistently seeing at least 318,000 peak daily concurrent users throughout the last week.

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However, in the past few days, both Drug Dealer Simulator games have seen a massive number of mostly negative reviews popping up on their Steam pages. This phenomenon is almost certainly a reaction to the copyright infringement investigation against Schedule 1 by a legal consultant hired by Movie Games S.A.’s management board, which was announced last week. The original Drug Dealer Simulator‘s more than 18,000 lifetime reviews still leave it with a “Very Positive” rating of 85 percent player approval, though 76 percent of the 575 reviews left within the past 30 days have been negative. Its sequel is not holding up as well, with 557 mostly negative reviews in the past 30 days accounting for more than 10 percent of its all-time score, which is now in the “Mixed” category.

Movie Games S.A.’s Drug Dealer Simulator Series Hit by Review Bombs

A look at the recent reviews for both Drug Dealer Simulator games confirms a lot of contempt from Schedule 1 fans. Many reviews accuse Movie Games S.A. of “bullying” the single-person development team for his success. “Going after an indie dev for releasing a more successful game with a similar idea is absolutely criminal,” one review reads. Others are pointing out their perception of hypocrisy by Movie Games S.A., listing off similar games that had been released before the launch of Drug Dealer Simulator. This vitriol comes despite the series previously having been considered among the best criminal empire management games in some circles.

Several fans are drawing comparisons between Movie Games S.A.’s investigation and the legal actions by Nintendo against Palworld developer PocketPair, which has earned Nintendo a lot of criticism. The first lawsuit in that situation was raised in September 2024, accusing PocketPair of infringing upon several copyrights tied to the Pokemon franchise. Although that original lawsuit is still ongoing, additional patents that have been perceived as anti-Palworld have emerged since, including a recent one filed around the middle of March.

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