It seems "Cuphead's" idea got copied by some scammers, as a fake "Cuphead" game has been permitted on the pages of the App Store for iPhone and iPad.
With the growing popularity of the retro-style run-and-gun game "Cuphead," imitations were bound to exist. One such notorious knockoff appeared on the App Store bearing the gameplay video and screenshots of the game itself. The fake game was even listed as having the developer StudioMDHR Entertainment Inc., which was incorrect since the real development studio for "Cuphead" is just called StudioMDHR.
The fake game even went as far as to link a fake website called studiomdhrgames.com, whereas the actual developer site of the game is just studiomdhr.com. The fake website was then tracked to someone named Walter Gregor who resides in Washington, as was seen on the profile of the website.
There is a Cuphead imposter app on the iOS store -- this is a scam. We are working on removing the fraudulent app ASAP!
— Studio MDHR (@StudioMDHR) December 18, 2017 " data-caption="null" data-credit="null">Despite being a scam, the game can actually be played, though it looks as if it was ported rather poorly, having low resolution and poor controls. The menu title of the game still reads "push any button" instead of referencing the control scheme of a smartphone. This means that the game can only be played for so long until the development mistakes become apparent.
It is also worth noting that "Cuphead" currently has an exclusivity deal with Microsoft, meaning it is only allowed to release for the PC and the Xbox platforms. Any other console or device which has "Cuphead" should be considered illegitimate due to the nature of the developers' deal with Microsoft.
The good news is that right now, the developers of "Cuphead" were made aware of the scam and are now working to take down the fake game and perhaps any which might follow suit. They also advised the iPhone and iPad users to avoid downloading or purchasing the game at all cost despite "Cuphead" not being available on the device.
Apple has now removed the fake game from the App Store, and users were also advised to check the authenticity of any app before downloading them.
