Earlier this year we wrote a bit about Blade Runner 9732, an impressive fan-made VR app that allowed users to explore a highly-detailed recreation of Deckard’s apartment from the iconic sci-fi movie. It was a free experience that did a great job of rooting you in the space.
Sadly, it’s being removed from Steam and Viveport this week, though not quite for the reason you might think.
Yesterday developer Quentin Lengele revealed that Valve had reported a copyright complaint and would be taking the app off of Steam (it’s already been removed from Viveport). However, Lengele noted that the complaint doesn’t come from Warner Bros. itself, which owns the Blade Runner IP. In fact, the developer even has an agreement of principle from Warner Bros L.A. Digital Department, which he obtained back in November 2017.
Lengele didn’t reveal who had filed the complaint instead. “I’m really disappointed with that kind of behavior on a free fan made project generating $0 and not taking profit to anyone,” he wrote.
The build is still on Steam at the time or writing but expect it to vanish within the next few hours. The app has a ‘Very Positive’ average user review score from nearly 500 impressions and works with the HTC Vive. Lengele added that he wants to explain to the plaintiff that the experience would never have been distributed without permission from the IP holder, but hasn’t yet heard back from them.
It’s not uncommon to see fan mods taken off of the internet no matter how impressive they are, though this certainly seems to be a unique case. Hopefully, a new agreement is reached and VR owners can go on enjoying this app.
There are official alternatives, of course; Blade Runner: Memory Labs is now available on the Oculus Rift while a new game, Blade Runner: Revelations, is on its way to Google’s Daydream platform.
