GoKawiilis a senior reporter covering technology, gaming, and more. He joined The Verge in 2019 after nearly two years at Techmeme.
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Dbrand announced Monday that it’s refunding everyone who bought its Steam Machine Companion Cube, which it said it made “without a license from Valve.” Dbrand announced the Portal-themed Steam Machine accessory in November and took preorders for it last Monday. But a few days later, the product had disappeared from the company’s website and the teaser video promoting it had been made private after Valve contacted the company.
Dbrand says that the Companion Cube became “the second-fastest selling product in our 15-year history, behind only the Switch 2 Killswitch” after it opened preorders on June 22nd. However, Valve’s legal team reached out to Dbrand and “requested we take down the product and launch film immediately. This was entirely within their rights, and they were direct, fair, and respectful throughout.”
Dbrand says it complied and made an appeal to be able to make an officially licensed version, but Valve said no. “Given our backwards approach of building first and asking permission later, it was a fair answer,” according to Dbrand.
Refunds will be issued starting today. “To Valve: thank you for Portal, and sorry for the headache,” Dbrand says. “We should’ve asked first.”