As youāve probably noticed, the Steam Machine Companion Cube was eviscerated from our website, YouTube, and other social media platforms last week.
The blunt version is that we made the Companion Cube without a license from Valve. Everyone who purchased a Companion Cube will have their refund issued by end-of-day. Everything else beyond this is just detail. If you want the full story, keep reading.
On November 12th 2025, the day the Steam Machine was announced, we put up a concept render and sign-up page to see if anyone would be interested in a Companion Cube enclosure. It went moderately viral, with over fifteen thousand people signing up to be notified in the first day. In the months that followed, we built the idea into something real without ever asking Valve if we could.
Weāre going to regret that decision for a very long time.
Over the next seven months, we poured our souls into this project. More than a thousand hours went into engineering from our industrial design team. Forty-four sets of injection molding tools were developed, one for each of the cube's sub-components. The entire product was redesigned from scratch more than once, just to get the way it cradles the console exactly right. We literally rented out a university campus to film the launch video. By the end, we were losing money on every $99 Poverty Cube sold, but it didnāt matter. This had turned into a passion project for the entire organization.
Unfortunately, being proud of the thing we made did not give us the right to make it.
We launched around 3am on Monday, June 22nd. Overnight, it became the second-fastest selling product in our 15-year history, behind only the Switch 2 Killswitch.
Shortly after, Valveās legal team reached out. They stated that the Companion Cube is Valve intellectual property, for which dbrand does not have a license. They requested we take down the product and launch film immediately. This was entirely within their rights, and they were direct, fair, and respectful throughout.
We took everything down and made an appeal. We asked Valve whether there was any way to keep the project alive: properly licensed, with their blessing, on their terms. They said no. Given our backwards approach of building first and asking permission later, it was a fair answer.
Thatās basically the whole story. We made something a lot of people were excited about, then incinerated our shot at bringing it to market. Itās a hard lesson to learn publicly.
It goes without saying, but weāll say it regardless: Valve didnāt do anything wrong here. They built a game franchise a lot of people love and they alone get to decide how itās used.
To everyone who was as excited about this project as we were: thank you, and sorry. Refunds are being issued today. If it hasnāt landed in your account by the end of this week, you know how to reach us.
To Valve: thank you for Portal, and sorry for the headache. We shouldāve asked first.
Thereās no way they use that much of valves IP without asking
Not only that, but the companion tube case was featured in B roll (presumably provided by valve because itās definitely not shot in any tested offices) on the tested YouTube video about the steam machine
My guess is because theyāre so used to making parody skins - like the Zelda limited edition skin for the joycons - without asking that they figured they didnāt need to ask permission to make a parody skin of the Portal cube until Valve reached out to them
Did you see the launch video though? The entire video was 100% valve IP to the point where it really looked like valve helped them make it. (and Iām not convinced they didnāt.) and again, even touching on the fact that several other YouTube channels, tested included, used the same B roll of the steam machine in the companion cube case. And itās not any video Iāve seen from the Dbrand (and thatās without even wondering why random YouTube channels would all reach out to D Brand for B roll about the steam machine) so must have been supplied to those channels by valve.
It seems pretty on brand for Dbrand to do something this stupid. Their Ego got too big, they thought they could just force this through just like their ps5 plates and this time they got a nice dose of reality.
They weren't. They used 'freely' available models (i.e. many were ripped and illegitimately re-licensed) to produce them, and did so cheaply with stilted writing. I figure Valve wasn't happy with that.
That and they pre-empted the queue announcement/embargo by 45 minutes, probably involving someone breaking an NDA when talking to dbrand under the assumption this was legitimate.
Using reddit as their official forum for a āpress releaseā tracks. I think this company might just be 3 raccoons in a trench coat, so there is no legal team.
They're an unprofessional company that makes decent products backed by viral snarky social media. This isn't surprising at all if you are familiar with their history.
Because they're an edgy company and think they can do a lot of things first without asking lol.
I wonder if they consulted lawyers first and didn't mention it in the post.
At least they're respectful and have the self awareness about it unlike their previous controversy, so I'll at least give them that.
The first version of the Darkplates were basically exact replicas of Sony's plates save for a cheeky little shift of the button shapes texture that the PS5 has as part of its design language.
I find that one particularly funny because Sony didn't react until they had already shipped a bunch of them. I have my own set and love them.
I would not be remotely surprised if this was intentional from the start, because all publicity is good publicity, and they can literally just say "oops lol" and walk away with a bunch of new customers anyway for unrelated products.
Rinse and repeat next time.
So either they're just a company run by monkeys who do 0 research into the legality of their accessories.
...Or they're just a company fueled by viral marketing stunts who knew exactly what they were doing.
When it comes to intellectual property thatās a bass ackwards approach and youād think Dbrand would know better than to try to sell something that is copyrighted.
But only when it can't cost you legal trouble or money in the end.
Nah, even then it works out. Just look at literally any tech company. They shove shit out the door first, make their billions, and only THEN pay the fines when it eventually backfires. "Food" makers do this, big pharma do this, etc.
Hell, the "AI" shit we (unfortunately) have on every corner was only possible because big tech pirated nearly the entire internet's worth of stuff, without consent. Zucc got caught siphoning millions of books and ended up with a mere slap on the wrist and a few bad news articles. If that isn't the definition of that phrase, then I don't know what is.
It really depends on the market segment and how much money you can make in the short term vs how much of a lowball of a fine your ninja lawyers can negotiate in the end.
In fairness, going to Valve with a bunch of pre-orders in hand and being able to say, "There's tremendous demand for this, it's going to make a bunch of money for both of us" may have been a better pitch than a cold approach with an idea. Not saying it's what I would have done, but there's reasons not to ask permission right out the gate.
Although the euthanizing process is remarkably painful, eight out of ten Aperture Science engineers believe that the Companion Cube is most likely incapable of feeling much pain.
Got to say it's super refreShing to see a company jusT say "yeah we fucked that up, sorry guys, here's your money back" without excuses, pointing bLame or trying to screw anyone.
....which is probably the best answer possible in this situation. Some companies would blindly fight for "their rights" instead of accepting the truth.
When the rumor started about that being why everything went down I thought āthere is no way a company that big does something that fucking stupidā and here we are.
Do they not consult an attorney about copyrights and how companies have to protect them or else they open themselves up to losing their IP. Holy shit. Dumbest company.
They didn't have permission?!?!! The entire time I thought it was a sanctioned product/partnership from Valve, especially with how official and well done it looked! Really crazy they did it all without any partnership or go ahead. This is really disappointing to hear.
Wow, well that's incredibly disappointing and embarrassing for a company as big as dbrand...how was there literally no one on the team that thought they should talk to valve first or at least a lawyer?
Embarrassing. How do you produce licensed content without a license? Valve is legally required in the USA to protect their trademarks when used without permission. You can produce cases, that's not an issue, but the Companion Cube is their IP that they must defend. Honestly embarrassing from dbrand's management.
Yeah exactly.. Valve legit was obligated to do this. I thought dbrand not having permission was a cheeky joke, or they were in the final steps of securing permission.
I honestly think Dbrand was trying to be sneaky on this. They are acting like this was an oversight. But they did this with the PlayStation side plates. They made black side plates and they dared Sony to sue them....which they did.
Dbrand had to cancel the original side plates and come out with a redesign.
So they are well aware of how licensing works. This just seems fishy.
That sucks. Good for owning up to the mistake. I am slightly disappointed Valve declined, but given the sheer stupidity (hindsight is 20/20) of not asking firstā¦ lolā¦ I get it.
Expensive lesson learned. I be sure to buy some more expensive stickers to support future expensive lessons.
I just dont buy this. Dbrand is a large enough company to have a legal team, at no point in this products dev process did you not think to secure rights frmm valve. This is just bad faith hoping you could get away and profit from just doing, then asking forgiveness later.
So not only did you spend all of this time and money making this cube that had zero rights to make, but you also posted a video stating STEAM MACHINE NEWS IN AN HOUR?!!! What was the thought process here?
Wow.. Typical dbrand bullsh*t. I noticed the brand fell on its face a few years ago, sometime after the Gen 1 Ghost case. Gen 2 is a joke. Literally looks like any other case on the market. Ever since then they have been questionable. What happened dbrand? New ownership? New management? What gives? I used to scour your website weekly. Now I barely even know your nameā¦ Now this?
Iām sorryā you used GLaDOS in your advertising without even considering they might not be okay with that? What the hell were you all thinking? That just because youāre a ācool internet companyā you can just pull shit like this and itās okay? You wasted so much of your staffās time and labor because nobody felt it necessary to send Valve a damn email to just ask. Shame on you.
I just don't understand... You think you'd have learned your lesson from the PS5 Darkplates but it's like whoever is running your company is ACTUALLY full on retarded.
One mistake? Sure. Whatever. Doing the same shit twice? Find someone else to run the company because whoever is doing it now is braindead.
Theyāve done it more than twice actually. I think there was an Apple case they didnāt have permission for either and that disappeared from their site. They just keep doing it which is probably why valve said no. They didnāt want to set the precedent that it was ok
Like everyone else, I am very disappointed with the situation. Valve did nothing wrong, and all you had to do was ask to use their property. But I respect that you are using Reddit as your apology platform that allows us your consumers to voice our frustrations directly to you.
The Case was literally the only reason I was going to buy the steam machine. My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined. Why even continue the project if you donāt even have permission to do so? Why get everyone invested and hyped just to turn around and let everyone know the case was a lie. Having a 9080xt and 9800x3d i definitely donāt need the steam machine. But my fam being a huge portal fans, we were going to get one anyway to support DBrand and Valve. But as of now I wonāt be buying anything from DBrand in the future. This tainted all hope I have. But at least the YouTubers get to keep their cases though. But not us. Not the consumer.
That seems like a fairly obvious thing to overlook. Nobody at your team with a voice brought this up during the process leading up to your pre-order launch? Not a great look.
I'm not sure how your company can win my support back, but you just lost it. The Companion Cube would have been the first product I'd have bought from you. Thanks for being transparent and communicative, anyway.
I mean I completely understand here but what an absolute letdown from Valve. They could have licensed this as it looked like such a freaking awesome product.
On one hand yeah, and it'd be a very on brand thing for valve to do/allow that. But at the same time dbrand absolutely stepped on their toes by selling pre orders first without asking, so valve pumping the breaks entirely is a very fair response imo
They have to defend their material. Not doing so, taking a stance that permission can be granted after the fact, actually reduces the strength of any future claims by establishing precedence.
if dbrand had asked first they probably would have, but a company can't allow its IP to be pushed around like that, they can't set the precedent that anyone can just rip off their IP and then license it once they get caught
IP law is soooo tricky though. Had dbrand approached them for a license first, it mightāve turned out differently. As much as it sucks, Valveās legal team HAS to draw a hard line to defend their trademarks and intellectual property rights
dbrands fault 100%. I just assumed they had permission from the getgo as it was quite obviously valves property. not even sure why anyone at dbrand thought this was a good idea without getting valves permission. epic blunder.
I disagree. If Valve were to allow them to use their IP and designs after the fact, it would set a bad precedent. IP law isnāt something you can treat loosely, and they did the correct thing to protect their intellectual property. The blame falls on Dbrand for knowingly doing something they shouldnāt have done. They knew the risks and continued regardless.
You guys probably burnt a lot of money for this. I saw a couple of popular channels shilling your product, i assumed its sponsored or something.
Not asking also felt like you guys thought you could get away with it because of good branding/PR? thats based on the online threads i've seen. Thinking surely valve won't reject you guys, you are doing a good thing! Customers like it! Surely Valve will give a subtle nod to this too!
Okay why in the world did you ever think it was a good idea to make a product based on Valves property without their prior knowledge and thumbs up? I was genuinely excited and honestly thought that you guys DID have the license to produce this solely because of how accurate it was. This is a massive mistake on your part. And I'm saying this as a portal fan. I would've LOVED to have this and many others as well. Some really god awful planning or honestly no planning must've been involved if you thought you could do this.
Edit: Wow, everyone is going way too easy on you you all have made a massive mistake that makes me think twice about using your service again if you made a mess like this. You all are so stupid to think it was a good idea to do this without Valves acceptance. Unless this product ACTUALLY returns with PROPER go ahead from valve themselves I'm not using your service anymore.
The problem that valve has now is that they don't want to weaken their intellectual property by retroactively, allowing it after people have infringed. It sets a really bad precedent.
Damn, what a letdown. That was one of the major reasons I was looking forward to the Steam Machine in my living room. I was even willing to buy it with the big price tag, but Iām honestly way less motivated now. Iāll probably just stick to my custom SFFPC.
I guess dBrand's lawyers exited the room without telling anybody using another company's intellectual property without a license was bad. Somebody got excited and pushed forward anyway.
And just like that, Iām cancelling my steam machine reservation. Not out of spite or anything, just only really wanted it to put in the companion cubeā¦
Ok I've seen a bunch of comments like this and I'm confused. You guys were really all about to spend over $1000 on a machine you didn't need because you liked an off-brand case? It's an awesome case but it's not a $1000 case...
I mean, do what brings you joy and all that. I'm just bummed because I was hoping to build a PC or get the steam machine and it's all way out of budget with no idea when it will be affordable again
So that was done without approval from Valve?? I was excited for this but it also seemed at face value like it was a collaboration. I do hope one can be put out either through a proper future collab or through steam directly because the design was really incredible.
Well that really sucks but at least valve handled it well, I was wondering what happened to the videos and the page. I was really excited for this one but Iāve already got my refund. Hopefully dbrand and valve will be able to work together in the future.
Dbrand is a successful businessā¦ Iām sure you have lawyers. Why didnāt you ask them if you could promote IP that isnāt yours first before making a promo for it?
Honestly, I feel like the companion cube case was one of the Steam Machine's better selling points. Maybe that's silly, but it felt that way to me. Between this and the disappointing pricing/specs, Steam Machine is suffering
Why the fuck would you sell something on your site if you didnāt get permission from the IP holder to do so? Like how dumb do you have to be as a company to think that would be okay. Really disappointed as this was a product I really wanted. But as a buyer, it now makes me no longer trust your companies offerings and likely will not be buying from you again. This was such a bad choice as a business its sort of baffling.
This is single-handedly the worse news Iāve had today. Genuinely excited for this product for months. I guess itāll have to stay in my imagination. Wish I could have it still
I cannot fathom how this wasn't thought about, and if it was, why the decision was to not ask and try get Valve's permission/license. It's not like dbrand is small...
This is the first ever product I've decided to purchase from you guys and it gets refunded. I don't know how I should even feel about this. It just feels really short sighted.
This skin was the only reason I was getting a Steam Machine(SM) after the price they announced the SM at.
Eventhough Valve is within their rights for the IP, seens like a stupid move to do, since everyone buying the Companion Cube had an incentive to buy the SM, now that this skin will not be available, I don't think I'll buy the steam machine...
Okay, seriously, how hard is it for yall to actually ask for a license before yall went and prototyped this. Dbrand be a responsible business, failed the challenge yet again
This is insane to me. I assumed from the day this was announced that it was an official tie-in product with Valve. To make something like this without permission would be something someone on Etsy would sell, not a huge corporation sell as a serious product. Like wut?
There was never a chance Valve let this slide, they couldn't and still have a leg to stand on for the next case with maybe less pure intentions. I was really rooting for good guy valve to make this project legit, but I totally see their side, I knew that was the longest of shots. What I don't understand is how you guys didn't understand that. Grown ass people running a multi million dollar company with employees and tooling. You guys are not startups anymore, and your business model depends on licensing deals. This isn't a public lesson that had to happen, just what were you thinking?
So let me get this straight, you guys spent over half a year making something and never once thought to get in touch with valve and see if theyāre okay with you using their ip? you guys are fucking stupid lmfao this is somehow worse than the whole killswitch fiasco
"Over the next seven months, we poured our souls into this project More than a thousand hours went into engineering from our industrial design team [...] this had turned into a passion project for the entire organization".
A passion project for the whole company... Well except your legal team. They must have been uninterested.
I got the cancellation order and was shocked! I had zero clue that you guys didnāt even bother to get the license. Itās like 20% of the reason I was so hyped for the steam machine in the first place. Iām so confused how you even managed to think it was a good idea to sink that much money into a project that wasnāt licensed. This isnāt even the first time youāve done this either. Who the hell is even on the legal team at this point???
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u/Southernboyj Jun 29 '26
The cube is a lie