No Players Online is a recently released indie horror game which takes place through an old school FPS. After a DMCA takedown shortly after launch, the developer finally was able to get the game reinstated.

Players interact with a seemingly abandoned old 90s PC, included is an FPS game whose servers have long gone offline. After booting up the game, you’re surprised that another player has joined your lobby…

The game is based on a freeware game of the same name from 2019, however the experience has been dramatically expanded and polished. According to Beeswax Games and Black Lantern Collective, the DMCA takedown was issued by a “former friend” who allegedly was not involved in the project. You can read the full statement from No Players Online below.

recently, No Players Online was removed from steam for nearly 3 weeks right after launch following a DMCA claim made by a former friend. they claimed to be a co-author of the game despite not having done anything for it. NPO was made completely from scratch by our team.

despite trying to clarify to them the past couple months that their allegations were completely unfounded, they recklessly filed the DMCA to steam without any notice, and the game was taken down on november 13th. we immediately filed a counter-notice, and today the game has been reinstated after the time for them to respond has passed.

we spent 2 and a half years of our lives and a ton of money making this game. we also have a lot of people who believed in us and wanted us to succeed. it’s crazy to me that someone can just take down our game by filling out a simple form, and it’s been tough trying to reconcile with this betrayal from someone i considered a dear friend.

we sincerely apologize to everyone who was unable to purchase or access the game during the past few weeks. this situation has had a significant impact on us, especially given how crucial the first months after release are for small indies like us. we lost out on much needed momentum and revenue right after the release of our game and we’re unsure if we will be able to recover financially from this given our already thin margins.

we are committed to doing all that we have planned still for No Players Online, but at this point we are unsure about the future of our studio. any visibility on our game at this point would be crucial, so if you want to support a little indie studio please leave a review on steam and share the game to the internet. <3

much love,
adam pype, the beeswax team and black lantern collective.

No Players Online is available now on Windows PC (via Steam).