Summary
One ofSteam’s most popular games over the last month,Schedule 1, is reportedly being investigated for copyright infringement due to its similarities to the Drug Dealer Simulator indie series.
The past few months have been massive for gaming thanks to releases likeMonster Hunter Wilds,Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2,Split Fiction, andLike a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. As big as all of those games have been, though, one small indie has managed tokeep pace with them and become a massive hit on Steam.
That game is the indie drug dealing simulator Schedule 1,which has been a massive hit since it launched and continues to draw in a lot of players. The future of the game is looking pretty bright right now, but it seems its sudden rise is going to cause some potential legal issues due to the game’s concept.
Schedule 1’s Similarities To Another Drug Dealing Simulator Might Cause Legal Issues
A Copyright Infringement Claim Is Seemingly In The Works
As reported by Insider Gaming earlier today, Schedule 1’s success might be about to drag it down a little, as Drug Dealer Simulator 1 and 2 publisher Movie Games S.A. has started an investigation into Schedule 1’s developer TVGS. This potential legal issue first popped upon papbiznes through a document called “MOVIE GAMES SA (17/2025)”.
The document says that a decision was made to “commence investigation” against the creators of Schedule 1 due to “claims regarding the infringement of the Issuer’s IP”. This is apparently due to “committing an act of unfair competition” against Drug Dealer Simulator 1 and 2 which, while not as successful as Schedule 1, has drawn in a lot of players as well.
Potential infringement of the Issuer’s intellectual property rights and activities that may bear the characteristics of unfair competition have been identified.
According to Insider Gaming, the investigation began when Schedule 1 first launched at the end of March, and it’ll be looking into “elements of the game’s plot, mechanics, as well as UI”. Basically, it sounds like Movie Games S.A. thinks Schedule 1 is too similar to its own games in a few areas and is looking for ways for a potential legal claim.
For now, it’s just an investigation and doesn’t seem to have gone too far, but it’s possible that the game will be impacted by it in the future,similar to Palworld and Pokemon. TVGS has yet to respond to the investigation or make it public, but if it’s taken further we’ll likely hear more about it soon.
Update 04/08/25 14:58 GMT:Movie Games has reached out to TheGamer to confirm “there is no lawsuit”, that “it is not our intention to prevent TVGS from selling or developing their game”, but that “there is an investigation into the nature of similarities between the games since a preliminary legal analysis indicated there might have been an infringement”.
