Dbrand announced that users who ordered the Companion Cube skin for the Steam Machine will not, in fact, find companionship after the “skin” was removed from its website.
Dbrand posted some sad news on Reddit regarding the Companion Cube skin for Valve’s Steam Machine. The company says the product will not ship to users, noting that anyone who ordered the Portal-themed accessory would get a refund issued by the end of the day.
The Companion Cube conversion kit was more than just a skin for the Steam Machine, and Dbrand makes a point to recount a little bit of its history in its new post. The accessory cost the company “more than a thousand hours” and resources to develop specialized tooling to get the kit to mimic the prop from Valve’s iconic game.
Dbrand says the Companion Cube skin was the second-fastest-selling product behind the Switch 2 Killswitch. Supposedly, GLaDOS Dbrand has warehouses full of them.
Portal was developed well before the Steam Machine was likely a concept, but that doesn’t mean the IP is free. Dbrand admits that it did not have a license to sell the product. Valve reached out shortly after it went live earlier this month, asking the company to remove the product from its website and any marketing materials that went with it.
In an appeal, Dbrand says it asked Valve if it could license the project after the fact and keep it alive, considering it might be one of the most anticipated Steam Machine accessories.
Valve declined, and the Companion Cube is no longer available to order while you wait for the Steam Machine to ship. Attempting to access the product’s page redirects users to the Reddit post.
It’d likely be hard to repurpose custom tooling and release a similar skin called the “friendship hexahedron,” or something along those lines.
All is not lost, as Dbrand is apparently still planning to sell various skins for the Steam Machine. They likely won’t be as insanely cool as the Companion Cube, though.
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