Apple recently took down a "Cuphead" game that was sold for a moment on the iOS App Store. This was after the fake version of the game was discovered to be a scam.
Developers Studio MDHR immediately took to Twitter after the fake was discovered. In a tweet, they said that "There is a Cuphead imposter app on the iOS store -- this is a scam." They add that they are working to get the "fraudulent app" removed from the store as soon as possible.
Apple responded by taking the app down after discovering that it was a fake. However, they did not say whether users who purchased the app will get a refund.
The game was allowed on the App Store a few hours before users noticed problems in the game's legitimacy. At a cursory glance, the app looks like the real deal. The screenshots are to be expected of the original game and the seller was listed as "Studio MDHR." It even got the "Cuphead" tagline correct, which is "Don't deal with the devil."
But one of the alarm bells that tell this game is a fake is that Studio MDHR, the developers of the game, have a well-publicized exclusivity deal with Microsoft.
It would not make sense for them to release "Cuphead" on the iOS App Store platform, as that would break the deal. Publicized deals like the one they have with Microsoft are especially important since the game came out just about a couple of months ago.
In addition, the game's support page leads "studiomdhrgames.com" as opposed to the developers' official site, which is at studiomdhr.com.
Furthermore, inspection of the fake support site led The Verge to report that the domain is owned by Walter Gregor, supposedly a resident of Washington, Washington.
The name is not affiliated in any way with Studio MDHR. "Cuphead" is currently officially available for Xbox One and Microsoft Windows PC only.
