‘Unpacking’ Developer Is Sick of the Shovelware and Copycats on Switch eShop

We could have only dreamed that the era of shovelware would have gone away with the Wii. But as Unpacking Creative Director Wren Brier has discovered, it’s back and more malicious than ever. Unpacking is an indie hit, and it’s unacceptable to see cheap clone games trying to use its name for their benefit. Whereas Nintendo is doing nothing to put a stop to it, leaving the Unpacking team to pick up the pieces.

Remember the Nintendo Seal of Quality? Pepperidge Farm Remembers

Back when I was younger, Nintendo was extremely strict about what type of games could be on their consoles. Seeing the Nintendo Seal of Quality on a cartridge guaranteed that I was in for a good time. Now? I can’t go onto the Nintendo eShop without being bombarded by a barrage of AI shovelware games and knockoffs.

Last year, The Last Hope: Dead Zone Survival made waves throughout social media for being the equivalent of a Dollar Tree version of The Last of Us. And things have gotten even more dismal on the eShop since then. Unfortunately, the Creative Director of Unpacking has recently witnessed a wave of games using their title and likeness being sold on the eShop. Even worse, there is no word from Nintendo about their removal.

It's been over two weeks and these are still on the eShop. Nintendo hasn't responded to any of our reports of these egregious scams which are using our trademarked game name and purposely tricking Nintendo customers into buying cheap fakes.

— Wren Brier (@wrenegade.bsky.social) 2024-12-16T05:55:21.046Z

looks like there’s much more ‘unpacking’ to do

It isn’t just Nintendo that suffers from this as of late, however. The PlayStation Network has been overloaded with cheap knockoff games that flood your feed. These games are thrown together in a matter of days. Using AI art or familiar imagery, these dastardly devs want nothing more than to profit from a more popular game. In this case, however, they’re not only using the name but trying to pass it off as DLC or a sequel.

Using Unpacking: Deluxe Edition is diabolical. Meanwhile, it’s simply a way to try and get players who want more cozy unpacking action to download these games that have nothing to do with the actual property. And it’s disappointing to see that Nintendo isn’t stepping in to do a thing about it. Hopefully, the attention will ensure Nintendo has to step in and put a stop to this. It’s hard to see someone’s hard work squandered by those who want to profit off of their name.