Delta Force devs apologise after Facepunch Studios exec accuses them of stealing assets from Rust: 'If you wanted to collab, you should have reached out'

Team Jade released a new trailer for its military FPS Delta Force earlier today, kicking off the new 'Asarah' Season that introduces a new map for its Battlefield-style Warfare mode and an event for its extraction-themed Operations mode. Soon after the Chinese company came under fire from the COO of Facepunch Studios, Alistair McFarlane, as he accused Delta Force of nabbing an asset from Facepunch's survival game, Rust.

The asset in question is a 3D model of plastic explosive that appears in the new trailer. Recognising the asset, McFarlane took to social media to address the issue: "Hey Delta Force, thank you for being huge Rust fans. Please remove our assets," McFarlane posted on X (via Insider Gaming). "If you wanted to collab, you should have reached out."

In a follow-up post, McFarlane linked to an ArtStation page showing the asset, which he says was made "fully in-house" by Facepunch's lead weapon and prop artist Thomas Butters, who also goes by Pilgrim. It looks virtually identical to the asset seen in the trailer, though this doesn't necessarily mean it is the same asset. Delta Force developer Team Jade's artists could have made a copy from scratch. Either way, Team Jade definitely appeared to be plagiarising Facepunch work.

Delta Force | Official Season "Ahsarah" Cinematic Trailer - YouTube

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A few hours after these posts, McFarlane provided another update, explaining that the Delta Force team "reached out and has apologised" and that the "matter is resolved." McFarlane also praised the cinematic where the rogue asset had appeared, adding that "hopefully next time we see a Rust Hazmat in their next season."

Neither Team Jade nor Timi Studios Group have commented on the matter directly thus far, while the trailer remains viewable on X. But it seems Facepunch is satisfied with whatever resolution the two companies arrived at in private.

This is far from the most egregious example of a studio seemingly copying a another developer's work from this year. Back in July, Sony revealed it was suing Chinese conglomerate Tencent over Light of Motiram, which it called a "slavish clone" of the Horizon series. Following this, Light of Motiram quietly purged most of the assets sporting a suspiciously Horizon-esque aesthetic. But this wasn't enough for the Japanese publisher, which filed a preliminary injunction against Tencent while accusing the company of playing a "shell game".

Rick has been fascinated by PC gaming since he was seven years old, when he used to sneak into his dad's home office for covert sessions of Doom. He grew up on a diet of similarly unsuitable games, with favourites including Quake, Thief, Half-Life and Deus Ex. Between 2013 and 2022, Rick was games editor of Custom PC magazine and associated website bit-tech.net. But he's always kept one foot in freelance games journalism, writing for publications like Edge, Eurogamer, the Guardian and, naturally, PC Gamer. While he'll play anything that can be controlled with a keyboard and mouse, he has a particular passion for first-person shooters and immersive sims.

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