{"id":73984,"date":"2026-10-20T15:04:58","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T06:04:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=73984"},"modified":"2026-10-20T15:05:00","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T06:05:00","slug":"japanese-indie-developer-devastated-after-adult-fantasy-slg-he-spent-9-years-making-is-pirated-ahead-of-steam-launch-announces-withdrawal-from-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-indie-developer-devastated-after-adult-fantasy-slg-he-spent-9-years-making-is-pirated-ahead-of-steam-launch-announces-withdrawal-from-industry\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese indie developer devastated after adult fantasy SLG he spent 9 years making is pirated ahead of Steam launch; announces withdrawal from industry"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Japanese game developer Hide, representative of indie studio WhiteCute &amp; AlphaNuts, recently reported that their latest title <strong>Deserter&#8217;s<\/strong> \u2013 an adult fantasy SLG that took 9 years to build \u2013 has been cracked and illegally distributed overseas ahead of its Steam launch (as reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gamespark.jp\/article\/2026\/10\/19\/173789.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Game*Spark<\/a>). The developer has expressed \u201cdespair\u201d over the incident and announced his de facto retirement from the game industry after 26 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Deserter\u2019s was originally released in March this year in Japan for PC (via DLSite), with a future international Steam release planned. The game is the latest entry in a popular tactical simulation series for feature phones and smartphones which has sold over 200,000 units domestically. Built in a proprietary engine, the ambitious project includes over 100 hand-drawn illustrations animated in Live2D, over 33 romanceable characters, and a robust core gameplay loop revolving around strategic real-time warfare and political scheming. Although Deserter&#8217;s is an adult game with erotic scenarios, it also comes with an all-ages patch for those interested only in the main campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1279\" height=\"718\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1279px) 100vw, 1279px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/20261020-73984-001.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-73988\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/20261020-73984-001.jpg 1279w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/20261020-73984-001-380x213.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/20261020-73984-001-768x431.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Around September, Hide had announced that his studio was finally working with a publisher towards releasing the game globally on Steam after negotiations with four other companies fell through. However, in the latest update posted on X on October 17, Hide reported that he&#8217;d become aware of a pirated version of Deserter&#8217;s circulating in China. The game had not only been cracked and translated unofficially, but its contents had apparently also been modified, which Hide took particular issue with. While his team had been preparing official Chinese language support for Deserter&#8217;s Steam version, Hide suggested this was no longer viable business-wise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/AlphaNutsGames\/status\/2112143867063705751?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">subsequent post<\/a>, the developer made a statement suggesting he will be withdrawing from the industry after 26 years of making games. &#8220;I think it was around the heyday of freeware and free software. I won an award from Digital Famitsu, got to create an official sample game for RPG Maker, and had a lot of fun along the way. The way things have ended is a bit unfortunate, but I do feel like I&#8217;ve seen things through to the end.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aside from delivering a promised extra content patch for Deserter&#8217;s and bringing the game&#8217;s SFW version to Switch, Hide says he is essentially done making games. As for the Steam version of Deserter&#8217;s, he intends to leave the decision to his publisher, so it&#8217;s currently not clear whether the game is still coming to the platform. In closing, Hide commented, &#8220;I&#8217;m leaving the industry (and the world at large) as it grows ever more chaotic with AI and everything else&#8230; in a way, I&#8217;m running away. I wish everyone who continues to fight the good fight all the best in what lies ahead.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Related: <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s=rip-off\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">AI-generated rip-off of unfinished Japanese indie game beats original to release, sparking concerns about safety of sharing dev progress<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/ai-generated-rip-off-of-unfinished-japanese-indie-game-beats-original-to-release-sparking-concerns-about-safety-of-sharing-dev-progress\/\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Deserter&#8217;s released on DLsite in March this year, with a global Steam release planned.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":73987,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","autoblue_enabled":false,"autoblue_custom_message":"","autoblue_shares":[],"autoblue_post_url":"","autoblue_publish_document":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-73984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-development","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Japanese indie developer devastated after adult fantasy SLG he spent 9 years making is pirated ahead of Steam launch; announces withdrawal from industry - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-indie-developer-devastated-after-adult-fantasy-slg-he-spent-9-years-making-is-pirated-ahead-of-steam-launch-announces-withdrawal-from-industry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Japanese indie developer devastated after adult fantasy SLG he spent 9 years making is pirated ahead of Steam launch; announces withdrawal from industry - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Deserter&#039;s released on DLsite in March this year, with a global Steam release planned.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/japanese-indie-developer-devastated-after-adult-fantasy-slg-he-spent-9-years-making-is-pirated-ahead-of-steam-launch-announces-withdrawal-from-industry\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-10-20T06:04:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-10-20T06:05:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/20261020-73984-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1464\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"822\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Japanese indie developer devastated after adult fantasy SLG he spent 9 years making is pirated ahead of Steam launch; 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Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/amber-vjestica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73984","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73984"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73984\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":73989,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73984\/revisions\/73989"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73984"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73984"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73984"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}