In a swift turn of events that sent shockwaves through the indie gaming community, solo developer Unomelon watched their voxel sandbox game Allumeria get yanked from Steam due to an automated DMCA takedown notice from Microsoft. The claim accused the game of infringing on Minecraft's copyrights, but it was later withdrawn, restoring the page in under 12 hours.

Allumeria is an upcoming Early Access title set for 2026, featuring procedurally generated worlds with unique biomes, deep cave systems, boss fights, dungeon raids, advanced building tools, and co-op play. Players can paint blocks, use RGB lighting for neon cities or cozy cabins, and collect loot to upgrade characters in a fully destructible environment.

After a year of development, Unomelon announced a playable demo for Steam Next Fest in January, building excitement for the lo-fi voxel adventure. Just weeks later, disaster struck: Valve emailed the dev stating Microsoft had filed a DMCA notice claiming Allumeria used "Minecraft content, including but not limited to gameplay and assets" without permission.

The trigger? A single Steam screenshot showing a birch tree forest with blue skies, tall grass, and pumpkins - elements straight out of nature and Minecraft alike. Unomelon shared the panic on their Discord: "I genuinely do not know what to do."

Unomelon suspected automation, pointing to Tracer.AI - Microsoft's AI tool that scans for infringements using machine vision and NLP. Valve automatically delists games on valid DMCA notices to avoid liability, leaving indies like Unomelon facing a tough choice: counter-notice and risk lawsuit, or watch their project vanish.

The community erupted. Vintage Story developer Tyron called it "ridiculous," noting Allumeria's original art, code, and even different programming language. Mojang's Jens Bergensten (Jeb) chimed in on Bluesky: unaware of the claim and investigating.

Relief came fast. Microsoft rescinded the notice, and Valve restored the page without a counterclaim. Unomelon posted: "Microsoft has withdrawn the copyright claim with no action needed on my part. This is the best case scenario... The steam page and game has been fully restored."

Wishlist it here: store.steampowered.com/app/3516590/Allumeria.