'If you're a billion dollar company advertising your game, ask permission!': Charlie the Unicorn creator chews out Warner Bros after MultiVersus ad uses his work without approval
Charlie the Unicorn creator Jason Steele has given Warner Bros. a disapproving finger wag after a MultiVersus advert used audio from the short film without so much as a «pretty please» from the multi-billion dollar corporation.
In case you're not clued up on your 2000s internet lore, Charlie the Unicorn is a four-minute animated video featuring the titular horned horse as he ventures up Candy Mountain, only to have his kidney harvested by his fellow adventuring unicorns. It's peak 2005 internet culture, popping off on Newgrounds before being reuploaded to YouTube and amassing almost 100 million views between two different uploads.
The short trailer, showing off the new Unicorndog skin for Reindog, was captioned «We're going to Candy Kingdom to get the new Unicorndog Variant, Charlie!» accompanied by audio from Steele's work. He then quoted the post expressing his disappointment, writing: «MultiVersus is a game by Warner Bros, a company with an annual revenue of around 40 billion dollars. Here they are using my work, without permission, to advertise their game.»
When questioned on why it was an issue, equating it to a TikTok audio, Steele responded: «I do not care if people use my work in non-commercial projects. If you yourself want to use the audio from Charlie the Unicorn for a meme, go right ahead. If you're a billion dollar company advertising your game, ask permission!»
MultiVersus is a game by Warner Bros, a company with an annual revenue of around 40 billion dollars.Here they are using my work, without permission, to advertise their game. https://t.co/t5LRznScdDDecember 22, 2024
A very valid and fair point, if you ask me. A simple «are we cool to use this» goes a long way, especially when it's a larger corporation rather than someone on TikTok with 10,000 followers with nothing to advertise. Steele also provided a little extra nuance in a Reddit thread, reiterating that his main issue lies with a large corporation directly piggybacking off his creation
Read more on pcgamer.com
