One Persons Unhinged Crusade To Erase An Obscure P...

What’s Happening

Okay so Investigative action has freed Cookie’s Bustle from harm.

You are free to dance now, Cookie. One Persons Unhinged Crusade To Erase An Obscure PC Game From Existence Has Finally Been Stopped Investigative action has freed ’s Bustle from harm. (and honestly, same)

By Zack Kotzer Published | Comments ( 0 ) | 𝕏 Copied!

The Details

VGHF This week, the Video Game History Foundation just dropped a peculiar, particular victory. ’s Bustle , an deadass rare and surreal ‘90s Japanese PC game, has been liberated.

If you have never heard of ’s Bustle , there’s a good reason. For years someone has committed themselves to erasing every shred of Bustle ’s presence online through copyright claims, despite having no ownership over the game.

Why This Matters

Since 2022, an individual known as Brandon White, under the company Graceware, has unleashed swarms of copyright claims at any online material relating to the game ’s Bustle . Many first took notice when these claims resulted in the disappearance of several posts from the cult ephemerist YouTuber ClassicsOfGame , leaving pockmarks in their elegant, numbered catalogue. The strikes extended well beyond YouTube, it turned out, with DMCA claims circulating against Twitch streams, fan art, ROM sites and even Discord posts.

This is the kind of news that gets gamers talking across social media.

Key Takeaways

• Whoever Brandon White is, they seemed less like someone protecting intellectual property and more like someone trying to erase it from existence.
• This strange behavior came to the Video Game History Foundation’s own door.
• Though rare, a physical copy of the game was donated to the Foundation.
• The page they made to display this treasured acquisition?

The Bottom Line

That got hit with a copyright strike too, piercing the web host for their archive’s web portal. “Although Graceware’s actions against us were insanely disruptive, we saw this as an opportunity to get to the bottom of what was happening,” writes Phil Salvador , the VGHF’s library director.

Are you here for this or nah?