The Raytrace

NewsFrom the companyIndustry

◆ Origin · announced byPiko Interactive · Oct 30, 2026, 10:49 UTC

Piko Interactive says it has sent DMCA notices over unauthorized ports

Piko named four ported games and said its own GBA version of 8 Eyes was "done with AI decomp." Its statement on X carries a "Made with AI" label.

Reporting by Nicholas De Leon · written by AI from the sources below

First published Oct 31, 2026, 00:11 UTC · Updated Oct 31, 2026, 23:19 UTC · Today's edition · All stories from Oct 30, 2026

Piko Interactive's statement image: white text on black inside a red pixel-art border, headed "Piko Interactive official statement" under a game cartridge icon and signed "Piko Interactive LLC".
FIG. 1 · 1200 × 1800 pxImage: Piko Interactive's statement on X

Piko Interactive told The Raytrace in an email that unauthorized ports of Jim Power, Sword of Sodan, Exploding Fist and Target Renegade, plus "another one it slips my mind," were "all done in the last few days." Piko said it sent "friendly requests" to take them down, and some people cooperated. Those who ignored it got a DMCA takedown notice, "Mostly on Itch.io," Piko said.

Piko also told The Raytrace it is working on 8 Eyes for Genesis, SNES and GBA. It said the SNES and Genesis versions "were done manually" and the GBA version "was done with AI decomp."

The email followed a statement Piko posted on X on Friday. It says unauthorized ports of its games have been released for free on other retro platforms, some apparently made with AI-assisted coding or "vibe coding." Piko says it intends to issue copyright takedown notices and may release its own official versions.

X labels the post "Made with AI." Piko told The Raytrace the statement image used AI for "an extremely simple template with some text." "I think it was funny to do it with an AI image, specially because we are not anti-AI," Piko wrote.

Sources

Built on the company's own post.

◆ Origin · announced byPiko Interactive · Oct 30, 2026, 10:49 UTCits statement on unauthorized AI portsHow we know: the company's own post on X (screenshot and link supplied by the editor) · what an origin is

Tick-tock · UTC

  1. 1Oct 30 10:49original announcementPiko Interactive
  2. 2Oct 30 14:51answers to The Raytrace's questions (by email)Piko Interactive

Also from the source

  1. First partyPiko Interactive by email to The Raytrace: answers to our questions · 14:51 UTC

History

  1. Oct 30, 2026, 16:16 UTCThe headline was: “Piko Interactive names ported games, says it sent DMCA takedown notices”

The Denoiser · free, every Friday

Liked this? Get the week in video games, minus the noise.

One email a week from The Raytrace: the week's lead with its origin credited, new Long Exposure pieces, the breakout games, and the paper trail.

One email to confirm, then one a week. Unsubscribe any time. What we keep

Or follow The Raytrace on Bluesky: @theraytrace.com

Support The Raytrace

No ads here. Readers keep it going.

Every story here is traced to whoever said it first, with every source shown. If that's useful to you, chip in.

Through Stripe; we never see your card. Money never decides what we cover. Why a tip jar