Microsoft Briefly Wipes Minecraft-Like Indie Game From Steam Over A Single Screenshot

Minecraft is the best-selling game ever, so it’s naturally inspired dozens of Minecraft clones and similar-looking, voxel-based crafting sims over the past 15 or so years. Many have survived without any complaint from Microsoft. But earlier this week, an upcoming Steam game called Allumeria was briefly taken down over a single screenshot.

On Tuesday, the developer behind the Minecraft-looking, dungeon-raiding sandbox announced that their game had been taken down from Valve’s storefront due to a DMCA copyright notice issued by Microsoft. The notice, shared by developer Unomelon in the game’s Discord server, accused Allumeria of using “Minecraft content, including but not limited to gameplay and assets.”

The takedown was apparently issued over one specific screenshot from the game’s Steam page. It shows a vaguely Minecraft-esque world with birch trees, tall grass, a blue sky, and pumpkins: all things that are in Minecraft but also in real life and lots of other games. The game does look pretty similar to Minecraft, but it doesn’t appear to be reusing any of its actual assets or crossing some arbitrary line between homage and copycat that dozens of other Minecraft-inspired games haven’t crossed before. 

A look at the game’s Steam page shows a pretty charming crafting sim that makes clear attempts to differentiate itself from Minecraft: its trailer, screenshots, and description all emphasize a focus on boss fights, loot, an in-depth cave system, and more customizable decorations. It’s also surprising that Allumeria was hit when the recently released Hytale, which literally grew out of a Minecraft server and looks like a super polished texture pack, has been allowed to thrive seemingly without issue. 

Letting AI automate takedown claims

Developer Unomelon told me via Discord that the claim was issued via Tracer.AI, an AI platform used to automatically detect and remove copyright infringements. Microsoft and Mojang have previously used the platform to take down other voxel games, like a Roblox tech demo whose developer later spoke out about the takedown, as well as YouTube videos about Minecraft itself.

While it’s unclear if the claim was issued automatically or intentionally, Mojang Chief Creative Officer Jens Bergensten (known to most Minecraft players as Jeb) responded to a comment about the takedown on Bluesky, stating that he was not aware and is now “investigating.” Roughly 12 hours later, Allumeria‘s Steam page has been reinstated.

“Microsoft has withdrawn their DMCA claim!” Unomelon posted earlier today. “The game is back up on Steam! Allumeria is back! Thank you EVERYONE for your support. It’s hard to comprehend that a single post in my discord would lead to so many people expressing support.”

Despite the fix, a demo for the game is running into some licensing issues as players try to download it, though that’s a better outcome than trying to counter-claim the DMCA during the February 2026 Steam Next Fest which Unomelon was preparing the game for. 

“[The takedown] may help boost the game’s popularity but it also comes with significant risk,” they told Kotaku. “Filing a counter claim opens me up to a lawsuit which could be potentially devastating. So even if everything works out, I would still rather the DMCA takedown never have happened in the first place.”

Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment.