Mob Entertainment filed a lawsuit against Google on Wednesday in California. The developer of Poppy Playtime is suing the company over scam games that impersonate the official mobile version of their games on Google Play. The lawsuit seeks to compel Google to remove these apps and pay $150,000 per scam game. In addition to Google, the lawsuit also targets an unidentified developer who created the scam games under the name Daigo Game 2020.
Poppy Playtime has become a massive hit among horror game enthusiasts. While the developer typically launches the game on PC, it plans to make all chapters available on consoles and mobile devices. The problem, however, is that some scam apps have taken advantage of the situation by posing as the official Poppy Playtime games.
In addition to using the game’s title, these scam apps even go so far as to steal screenshots from the official game. While the app is free to install, it has already been downloaded over one million times. According to the lawsuit, users who download the app are prompted to purchase mods priced between $30 and $95.
To make matters worse, fake Poppy Playtime games often appear months before the official release. For example, a scam version of Poppy Playtime Chapter 4 appeared on Google Play as early as October 2024, even though the official PC version is not set to release until January 2025.
Although Mob Entertainment has repeatedly issued DMCA takedowns to Google to remove these scam apps, Daigo’s games still remain. Daigo’s Poppy Playtime Chapter 3 was taken down in December 2024, but it reappeared on Google Play just a few days later. Due to this ongoing issue, the developer of Poppy Playtime hopes to use this lawsuit to pressure Google into taking meaningful action.
Fans are supporting this lawsuit from Poppy Playtime‘s developer. Numerous scam apps have been plaguing Google Play for a long time. While adults can easily recognize these apps as scams, minors might have difficulty identifying them. “Good for MOB,” one Redditor wrote. “Scam games have also taken content from creators who play playtime such as thinknoodles.”
