Giantess Playground Faces Legal Action Over "Unauthorized" Release

City Crushing Sim Faces Legal Action As Original Game Reportedly Stolen From Original Developer Published Aug 14, 2026, 7:50 AM EDT Sam Woods is TheGamer’s Senior Reporter. He’s been in games journalism since 2020 and has undertaken a variety of roles in that time. These have included roles such as SEO Editor, Managing Editor at DualShockers, and Global Head of Gaming, and he's also been seen on the BBC. He was promoted to the Senior Reporter position in 2025 following a series of high-quality reports and exclusives for TheGamer. Since 2020, Sam has written over 2,500 articles and specializes in telling the stories of the people behind the games. He’s interviewed the biggest game directors, some of the industry’s top talents, told the stories of how indie games came to be, and spoken to players about what really makes them tick. He’s also interviewed some of the world’s biggest musical artists to find out how the medium has inspired their work, and TV and Film actors about their roles in video game adaptations. He even hosted a PAX panel in 2021 and made a documentary in 2024 surrounding the creation of a Disney game. Alongside this, Sam focuses on breaking news. He got the scoop on Perfect Dark’s cancellation, got context around some AI drama, and revealed how Lady Dimitrescu’s actress would love to step back into the character’s giant shoes. These articles have been picked up by the biggest gaming sites, including IGN, GameSpot, and PC Gamer. He also loves to dive into the numbers behind the games. Sam’s journey in games journalism has taken him all over the world. He’s covered Gamescom in Germany, Summer Game Fest in Los Angeles, and Tokyo Game Show in Japan, each on more than one occasion. He’s been learning Japanese since 2024 with the intention of identifying and translating Japanese-language news and bringing it to English-language audiences first, something he’s done countless times. Sam’s first review was 2020’s Battletoads reboot, and he’s since reviewed games in The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, and Pokemon franchises. "Stomp as a towering Giantess or scamper as a tiny citizen in a city-based destruction sandbox game," Giantess Playground's Steam description reads. "Crush buildings, dodge feet, play hide-and-seek in a sandbox map with Giantess girls." It's niche, but it sounds like the type of game you can switch your brain off to while wreaking havoc. But havoc isn't only being wreaked in-game, as its new publisher, Aggressive Mastery Inc, is facing legal action from the game's original creator, who claims, "The Steam release of Giantess Playground is completely unauthorized by me!" Giantess Playground Is About To Be At The Center Of A Huge Legal Debate Giantess Playground was first released in 2022. It was created by GiantessGameUE5, who funded its development through Patreon (via Automaton). After three years of development, the game's original developer teamed up with Aggressive Mastery to continue development, and in July 2025, Aggressive Mastery released it on the Epic Games Store. Today, it released on Steam. These releases were the beginning of what looks set to become a long-running legal battle, with its original creator claiming Aggressive Mastery cut them from development, while Aggressive Mastery claims the same. It began to bubble to the surface in June, with a Patreon post from GiantessGameUE5 explaining their side of the story. "My understanding of that agreement is that I remain the owner and copyright holder of the game, while Micah would receive a share of Epic and Steam revenue in exchange for working on the game together and sharing development responsibilities and costs," they claim. "For a while, the collaboration worked. His destruction plugin was integrated, the game received more attention, and more people started supporting the project. I was genuinely happy about that. I wanted this to become a real GTS game with actual gameplay, destruction, exploration, and replayability — not just a quick tech demo or a simple fetish product. But over time, our direction became very different." They explain that while they wanted to continue polishing, Aggressive Mastery wanted to maximize revenue, forcing the game into early access and adding a range of paid add-ons. Something GiantessGameUE5 rejected, claiming "he seems not interesting with [sic] the game at all, but just making money out of it. We have had several voice calls arguing about this." Eventually, GiantessGameUE5 relinquished the game to Aggressive Mastery. They reportedly left all revenue to their collaborator, making a simple request: the game would not be released on Steam. The issue rumbled on, with both parties threatening legal action on social media, and a post was shared by GiantessGameUE5, reportedly showing Aggressive Mastery asking for Patreon subscribers to email him receipts so he could offer them a code. Things began to climax over the last couple of days, though, when Giantess Playground was listed on Steam. "The other party has continued to ignore formal communications from my legal counsel and has refused further discussion. He currently control the Epic and Steam listings without my authorization, are retaining all revenue from the game, and are proceeding with a Steam release that I have never approved. I have clearly opposed releasing the game in its current unfinished state! Meanwhile, I have no control over the Epic or Steam platform and cannot provide any updates, maintenance, or ongoing support," a post from August 12 reads. A second post added that Aggressive Mastery "has refused further negotiations," something they vehemently deny. Following today's Steam release, GiantessGameUE5 issued one final social media post: "The Steam release of my game Giantess Playground was done completely without my permission! The other party published the game on Steam without any authorization and took all the revenue for themselves! I am currently collecting evidence and reserve all rights to pursue legal action. Please be aware of the truth", they say. The messy agreement looks like it was formed with nothing more than a gentleman's handshake, with both parties claiming ownership of the title, and it could be a legal battle that runs for a long time. TheGamer has reached out to both parties for comment. Brand Valve Original Release Date September 12, 2003 Original MSRP (USD) N/A Weight N/A Hardware Versions Steam