Dreamworld kickstarter scam followup

[@JoshStrifeHayes]

Brilliant video. I've used some of your observations in a video I've just put up, and I've linked to your channel, hoping to see you grow :D

[@CallumUpton]

Thankyou josh! I really appreciate the credit and support 💜

[@Aiphares]

@@CallumUpton coming from him - Amazing findings, keep videos like this coming! :)

[@Alresu]

I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

[@PolyPixxel]

They actually have stolen some of my assets that were created, and I am currently pursuing legal actions, I don't want to say too much on this due to trying to make a case currently. I was told they are using an asset pack that was created by myself from a friend that discovered it... I looked up and down on my seller portal to find them to confirm they purchased it and did not find either of the "CEO's" or "CFO's" names. quite disgusting actually... I work hard to sell my services to people the least they could have done was purchase the content...

[@CallumUpton]

hey! im building a list of people who are saying they havent been paid! add me on discord "Cal#1337"

[@TheGaboom]

Here following a shoutout from Josh Strife Hayes; thanks for the deep dive on this Scammo Callum!

[@rogermusson4110]

Same here.

[@drunkenbutterfly21]

Are you telling me they Pirated Pirate Island?! That's kinda hilarious in a messed up way😂

[@MrKraignos]

They didnt even pirated it. Only ripped the video :P

[@kanesandstone]

F in chat for the MMO genre. People are so desperate for a new MMO that they'll toss money at literally anything that appears, no matter how likely it is to be a scam. :(

[@xalzor740]

Its not just that, there are a lot of gullible and stupid people too who think these are legit

[@thinkhouseproductions408]

Removing the badge is too little too late, how about removing the campaign and refunding everyone instead??

[@CallumUpton]

agreed!

[@xalzor740]

Its pretty obvious that Kickstarter doesnt care about the scams otherwise they wouldnt even let these asset flip games to be even put out on kickstarter. Or when a scam happens they would legally go after them, there is so much that they could do on their shitty platform.

[@xelldincht8149]

@@xalzor740 they are stupid if they do nothing to prevent scams because why should people back other projects if they could be scamed as well?

[@jonathansaindon788]

Buying games on Kickstarter is like playing lottery but, instead of pure luck, the outcome depends on the skills of a few people who never made games before. Your odds are not good. TL;DR Be prepared to loose your money.

[@brianoleary6332]

It's not a scam. Why does people think that?

[@ukaszczocher9230]

Thanks Callum for taking action on project like that. I would like to share with you that I received "banned" achievement from their discord channel when asked if I could see multiplayer video with more then one player.

[@CallumUpton]

better than me, i got banned because they recognized my profile pic lmao

[@ukaszczocher9230]

@@CallumUpton ​ @Callum Upton That is what happens when you are a celebrity in DreamWorld ;) If that projects get founded today, I would be ready to create "ScamWorld" project - use all the UE4 asset they bought and do it in one week - i would love to show people how fast this things can be done :)

[@keiyangoshin3650]

Josh Strife Hayes brought me here. Callum, keep doing what you do. If you can find these scams and warn people, please do so. If you decide to focus your energy elsewhere, please do. ~.^ Whatever you decide, have fun. All the best and stay safe. ♥

[@CallumUpton]

Thank you so much for the support! i plan to continue making videos on similar scam games as well as posting some dev-logs for my own multiplayer game I'm working on, these kind words really do mean a lot!

[@MrZhootSe]

@@CallumUpton As a indie gamedeveloper Im speechless that people do this.. I shouldnt be surprised but I am. Thank you for reporting about this. I'd love to see more from you in the future

[@joy211191]

I did a Kickstarter for a project I had. The Kickstarter failed but funny thing, the project happen. Was trying to make a demo and it did finally. Now working on a revamping it for full game

[@SethEric]

Kickstarter is taking notice, I can't wait to make a video titled "DreamWorld CANCELLED" when it inevitably happens.

[@CallumUpton]

we've got 2 days to get it done! keep fighting the good fight sir!

[@diegocantu7750]

@@CallumUpton Both of your videos are super explanatory and let the non-game developers understand what kind of bullshit this project is belive me you did your part

[@CallumUpton]

@@DEV yeah i completely agree.. good news though, im recording another video tomorrow, on another KS scam. we'll manage to stop this one though ;)

[@Alfkdna]

I'm glad you've done these videos because this is becoming a problem, the MMO thirst is so big and then people like this come and throw sand in our mouths after promising us water.

[@silith7027]

So basically 'Projects we love left me'.

[@tunixcrack]

😂😂😂

[@blakksheep736]

Wheeze

[@BasilOnatopp]

Came here at Josh Strife Hayes' recommendation. So glad I did! Your coverage of this is awesome. I hope to see more content!

[@CallumUpton]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@kidigus]

Cheers for the 21:9 aspect ratio! First youtuber to take up my whole screen :)

[@Krahkarq]

Subbed, signed and shared the petition. As a hobbiest game developer who is able to do more with his store assets such scams hurt.

[@theowlcast3725]

Signed the petition mate. I'll mention it on stream to my viewers today as well.

[@majortom7038]

Also here from josh strife hayes. Keep up the good work. I subscribed 👍

[@bluetrianglestudios1741]

Dude! I'm so happy you did take time out of your life to help show people how much of a scam they are.

[@xelldincht8149]

those guys at Kickstarter are complete idiots if they allow the scam so they can pocket the 5 percent. Do they really think people will continue backing kickstarter projects when they find out that the company did nothing to prevent a scam?

[@querneu3783]

you got my sub Callum, very good content, hope to see more kickstarter scams and other content in your channel, keep up the good work!

[@pootisengage6672]

Oh man. What is kickstarter thinking? If SHTF with this they could get dirt on themselves

[@marleyhicks7263]

Subbed , Josh strife Hayes recommendations never ceases to impress

[@lunalluna9401]

Glad I found your channel, excited to see more videos from you !

[@EdmundKempersDartboard]

They are using assets from shadow of mordor/war to promote the game last I checked. The model and animation of a graug biting an orc's head off and Talion mounting it. I have a feeling WB Games would be a little more assertive than Kickstarter about this if they were aware.

[@ShieldThane]

Keep up the good work! I too found you from the shoutout!

[@mikeofmidgar1940]

signed the petition. surprisingly low amount of turnout cmon guys lets go!

[@MrSoulast]

[outdated] - I found that there is some programmer who did create this prototype. Have to look at the Tobydoo2 channel.

[@CallumUpton]

He is one of the backers that got access to "pre alpha" however its all the premade and pre-coded assets

[@MrSoulast]

​@@CallumUpton my bad. I did rush too quickly. Soon as I did watch the rest of the videos I found out the Tobydoo2 is not a programmer but he is a "pre-alpha" tester of ELYZM Prototype. If you search on youtube for "ELYZM Prototype Promo" you will notice that the promo looks more genuine than the one on Kickstarter. Now I do believe that "ELYZM" now known as "DreamWorld" did build community since September and probably "ELYZM" community did support this Kickstater.

[@ukaszczocher9230]

@@MrSoulast from my point this "Elyzm Promo Video" looks line a demo video for yCombinator application as lenght seems to be meeting startup accelerator criteria. Seems they pitched with this video. Good spot, as this shows that nothing has been done to project since this promo video. For me it even looks like they have removed stuff to improve performance as it just drop frames to level of 1-2 fps in some scenes.

[@deanbouvier8529]

Not at all surprising to hear that bunch would use rip'd assets. Signed and I'll spread it around. This type of things hurts legit teams now and in the future.

[@knessing7681]

So Dreamworld's Twitter is dead, and their Kickstarter Comment section are silent (from the two scammers), so are they quiet/gone from their discord too? Has these two gone and disappeared with 63K usd (after Kickstarter take their cut of the scam)?

[@hughmac7423]

Followed the Core Aegis link, and there he is, sitting on some boxes, acamming.

[@Noodle-Segootal]

Yeah, the guy who does the worst MMO series (I think his name was Josh strife hayes?) he has a large channel and I think a lot of people are finding out about this and I think you did a great job with a follow up video

[@knessing7681]

If kickstarter was aware of this scam and complicit in this scam then are they not liable in a (class action) lawsuit if some decides to take this to court? I dont think Kickstarter's TOS will protect them in a court of law if they were complicit with the scam/crime.

[@adalwolf12]

Kickstarter needs to repay everyone if they don't. They pushed a scam and there are repercussions regardless of being a company or a single person.

[@havenandaura]

They sold out the victims for a measly 3.5k

[@qazacoatl]

Thanks for doing this Callum! ive reported them on Kickstarter

[@pitmanfirst2165]

Great video, hope you you make more on other games or subjects too.

[@princessmyprincess4284]

Why would people even pay into this thing in the first place? Kids with mummies credit card I assume. That atrocious lighting and the defualt puppet as the main character were already a dead giveaway! People never learn do they...

[@BunnLilah]

Kickstarter boss: "Oh my God, someone's scamming people on our platform!!" Kickstarter guy: "Oh no! Should we shut it down, sir?" Boss: "What!? Of course not! Did you see how much money they're gonna get? Just take off our endorsement. That'll be fine." Guy: "B-but sir...isn't our integrity important?" Boss: "Hey, don't worry! We're gonna get $3k out of it!" Guy: "Huh, really?" Boss: "Yup! And you guys on the front lines will get a great bonus too! Pizza on Friday! Now get back to work. And you better stay 5 minutes late today from this little chat!"

[@joearnold6881]

6 months later and they’re still waiting on that Friday pizza…

[@Listersmate2]

I know for a fact that Gabe Kaplan was using his breakup with his fiance as "leverage " to try to get funding for this. He basically threw his ex fiance "under the bus" by practically slandering her in this scam.

[@SBChaevok]

For real, please dive into their past project. I can't be fucked to dive into that mess, but I could do with a 10-15 min vid about it.l

[@mdc123-v2v]

Shared on @KiraTV's Discord as he's been covering this closely.

[@Phoenix-gz9xb]

I knew it was BS from the get go and they tried to call me out on it and still lost that battle. I know this field too well and couldn't BELIEVE it was even funded.

[@Lord_Juvens]

We all know which two guys disliked the video! :D

[@ekkieck]

Why am I not surprised?

[@CallumUpton]

i think most of us saw this coming sadly

[@Be_kind_and_use_your_brain_uwu]

I hope KickStater gets sued and taken down permanently because that greedy egotistical attitude is goddamn disgusting

[@catclaws1847]

The people who donated are probably connected to the creators themselves. Someone got money they need to hide where they got it from.

[@cheken4326]

9:50 Do you have proof that they don't own the asset packs and just torrented them? I agree that this is a scam and should never be supported, and it's obvious that they just used those asset packs on their own each time and that none of them were actually joined together but I'd like to see some proof if there's a claim that they straight up illegally obtained said assets. If you have proof that it was, then that might even hold up as a way to get backers their money back and I'm sure a lot of them will want that sort of evidence in the near future.

[@MisogynyMan]

Asking good questions here.

[@DonPunch420]

thanks for trying hopefully KS does the right thing

[@riksoz]

The only down vote proby from thr game dev

[@Eagle-pe9pg]

Awesome channel. Keep it up

[@bodoimnotion]

cool video, commenting to boost the algorithm

[@Webdragon666]

One could argue they actually didn't breake rule number one, as you said, they show nothing because they got nothing. also here is a /woooosh in case its needed, for internet people, because i know some might need it

[@MrSpronkets]

Doesn't matter if the project still gets funded though...

[@darcraven2496]

Not easy to find someone you can trust, unless recommended by someone you can trust. Good to find.

[@DOCDOCFLAMINGOS]

Ummm just my 3¢..... As someone looking in from the outside..... BUT... With the amount of different people taking about and pointing out this game being a scam etc.... What really needs to be talked about now.. Is WHY it was allowed to stay up and end it's campaign normally allowing them to get all that money .. And moving forward what needs to be done so this stops happening to people ... Because at the end of the day the more and more these things happen and people get away with scams. Those are all roadmaps for teaching more and more people to how to do it and how to do things differently so they get away with more money and become harder to detect that something is a scam at all .. And all the videos pointing out what's wrong or impossible etc.. that just teaches any would be scammer how to talk or what to say that would not make their claims seem so unreal or not possible ..Just sayin!!!

[@WelfareChrist]

Duuude, you sincerely believe that Kickstarter is letting this go thru for 3-4K?? Chances are they still might cancel it and they’re currently double checking to see if they should. As we’ve seen with other games like KoE these guys can legally get away with providing the scaffolding for a game, never come out with a game, and it’s technically legit it’s just considered a failed venture which is not illegal. I agree it’s a scam and I hope they stop it but Kickstarter could actually be on the hook legally if they do that (u could argue it’s defamation by telling his backers he’s a scam artist resulting in real damages). Point is I really don’t think it’s a couple grand that’s preventing KS from pulling the trigger

[@WelfareChrist]

Yea I looked it up Kickstarter pulls in $28 mil a year

[@pixelissue]

Nice update dude

[@willlaw1672]

I'm afraid it's funded it wasn't cancelled by kickstarter. I have checked and they even made a video basically saying thanks for the money. The shirking cheeking shits

[@gazeboist4535]

Anyone file a report with the FTC? This guy's a serial fraudster to the tune of a couple hundred thousand dollars; it's at least plausible that they'd intervene, especially given Kickstarter's failure to enforce their own terms of service. The best people to file would probably be backers; second best would be former backers.

[@Ortagonation]

where is Kickstarter location from? Because this straight against consumers protection act in most country. Kickstarter is nothing but accomplice in crime. They promote them, realized its a scam, but only remove recommendation without close the pledge. In agreement, ks said they not have refund policy, it's funder risk to get when the project failed. Sure, it is true if it is creator, and they do trial and error to realize their creativity, and sometimes its flopped. But this guys is straight up scam, not creator, the rule should not applied here. Kickstarter should not free from law because of the reason "its not store". If you protect a scammer, they should have still got consequences... They not store, but they still have their consumer, they user...

[@CallumUpton]

They are operating out of cali

[@tical2399]

JSH sent me here.

[@Piqipeg]

Obligatory algorithm appeasement comment!

[@MisogynyMan]

This kind of thing is why people nowadays don't trust game developers.

[@theogknight2292]

Commenting for algorithm

[@CallumUpton]

[@Primarch19th]

Psssssssssssssssssstttttt Scam ????? Errrrrr, Star Citizen ring a bell ???

[@hadleyjarvis766]

You deserve way more subs mate😀

[@santaras8536]

why the video ratio is so trange? ANd you need to put warmer colour filter to your camera or get a better one.

[@Xugoh]

"Because the people who backed this have to be children..." Yes, children with access to disposable income. I'm not even sure if he's being sarcastic and insulting the backers or he really thinks that children use Kickstarter because they understand the concept of crowdfunding.

[@darvr5697]

Subbing cause Josh Strife Hayes said so!

[@Poxer]

I understand the project is fully funded, I have screenshots of dreamworld staff posting very racist memes, if it would help you expose this scam let me know :)

[@Manobaru]

6:00 I believe you've mistook 5% and 50% there, saying that Kickstarter would get 3,5k for doing nothing 😅

[@deanwescott2844]

👍🏻

[@derekschommer1465]

But the 2nd guy quit working at Google, Facebook, and Apple to work on this game.

[@x6Blade9x]

lol

[@E1m0ren]

You’re not on the wrong side of this argument but this video makes you look foolish as you refute your own assertions and proceed to give complex legal definitions as fact regarding what is and isn’t a scam. Dreamworld is a scam, but if this is the stuff you’re gonna tackle, you need to be more well spoken and thought out in providing your opinions.