Scam project shows up on Kickstarter

Users expose fake office photos and stolen concept art

Chris KempMay 1, 2012

Well, it had to happen sometime. A video game Kickstarter project has turned out to be a sham, after some users at Something Awful noticed a few suspicious things on the Kickstarter page.

The game was supposedly being developed by Little Monster Productions and was entitled Mythic: The Story of Gods and Men. The trouble came when some people noticed that the concept art was all stolen from other sources. Images were taken from the work of artist Gonzalo Ordonez Arias, Photoshop tutorials and photos from manufacturers of replica weaponry and passed off as original art for the game.

Even the offices were fake, photographs supposedly taken of the developer’s workspace were actually that of app developer Burton Design Group.

After the comments started rolling in, Little Monster hustled to make some hasty (and flimsy) explanations in the comments.

“A few members of our team worked at Burton Design Group last year before they found out the owner was being shady with funds.”

“They left and joined our team shortly after. As for the concept art, it seems we have been subjected to false claims of ownership right to our concepts. The game itself is well in progress and is NOT a scam of any kind. Thank you for understanding. If you have any further questions please feel free to ask.”

Shortly thereafter the company closed the campaign and wiped its online presence, including the Facebook page. Little Monster was hoping to rack up $80,000 for the supposed RPG, promising Skyrim-like visuals and gameplay of World of Warcraft, which ties in nicely with their claim that the team are all ex-Activision Blizzard members.

Upon closing the project had racked up $4,739. This is making me seriously question that Nigerian racing sim I sunk last month’s paycheque into.