Trek Industries boss admits Orion’s assets were stolen from Call of Duty

After claiming that Activision’s accusations of theft were ‘erroneous’, CEO David Prassel has finally confessed that his company indeed stole assets from Call of Duty.

Trek Industries’ sci-fi shooter Orion was pulled from Steam earlier this week, following a complaint filled by Activision over weapons assets oddly similar to those from Black Ops 3 and Advanced Warfare.

In a long Steam post published yesterday, Prassel said that he ‘feels like an idiot’ and that he received evidence directly from Activision regarding assets not even mentioned in public yet.”

Upon receiving this it became immediately apparent that blatant rips were made. While the artist offered to remake any assets at no cost, he has now been fired immediately upon learning this,” he added.

Prassel then tried to explain what happened: What most users don’t understand is that we are a remote developer, we don’t work side-by-side. Hiring and full-time development happens online in different time zones and different hours of the day. This can result in situations like this and we do are best to avoid them.”

However, the CEO also said he cannot guarantee this won’t happen again:

What most users also don’t understand is that I personally don’t build these weapons. I am not a 3D artist, at all,” Prassel wrote.

What I am responsible for is hiring the individual responsible. And this is what concerns me the most: I cannot guarantee this will be prevented in the future. I don’t get to play other games, I am working on this full-time. I would never have the chance at cross-checking content across every game nor could I be expected to. This is why we are open to fan submissions or even developer ones like this. If there is valid proof, we will remove it immediately.”

Prassel has shut down Trek Industries’ social media and Orion will be back on Steam within 10 business days, unless Activision fills a legal complaint.