Do you have fond memories of Battle Squadron from the Amiga? You may have heard the game got published on Steam. Unfortunately, it has come to light that the game was published without permission from the original creators.
Danish developer Cope-Com, comprised of Martin B. Pedersen and Torben B. Larsen, made their name on the Amiga with only two top down vertical scrolling shooters: the aforementioned Battle Squadron and Hybris.
Based on this report from Danish website Version2, Pedersen and Larsen have come out to reveal that their game was published on Steam by Alternative Software Ltd without their express permission. Sadly, they revealed that this was not the first time they discovered piracy of their game, as Merlin.dk, Happii.dk, and Danish Supermarket have all been caught selling the game illegally. They do not mince words, calling this outright piracy.
Pedersen and Larsen also state that whomever is selling the game in Amazon has also pirated it. When asked about taking countermeasures, the two lament that they are just a small company, so they can only do so much, between taking care of official distribution, and monitoring piracy.
If you would like to support Cope-Com for now, Battle Squadron is on iOS and Android. You can also get Battle Squadron for Windows, Mac OS X, and AmigaOSlikes AmigaOS 4.X and MorphOS, via authorized distributor Seal of Action here. If you’ve never played the game there is even a demo.
