Over on the Xbox Store you can currently find Mariostro Strikers: Soccer League, a newly released game that is clearly a knock-off of the popular Nintendo-published Mario Strikers series. And yes, the cover is an awful AI-generated nightmare.
As spotted by Nintendo Life, Mariostro Strikers: Soccer League was released on the Xbox digital store on January 10 by LightGamess. And despite obviously being a knock-off Mario Strikers game, over two weeks later, it is still available to purchase and play on Xbox for the low, low price of $4. I’d include a trailer below, but I can’t find one. I also can’t find any video on YouTube of someone playing this game. So instead, here’s a screenshot of the game via its store page:
Yikes! That don’t look great. And here’s the game’s actual description from its Xbox store page. See if you notice anything that shouldn’t be in there.
Dive into the thrilling world of arcade-style soccer with [Your Game Name Here]! Experience the excitement of 4v4 matches, where every player counts. With 10 unique and fun teams to choose from, you’ll dribble, pass, and shoot your way to victory while defending your goal with a skilled goalkeeper.
Also, in the game’s store page, it mentions that it supports “4v4 matches” and that Mariostro Strikers is perfect for “challenging your friends.” But the game is listed as single-player title. I’d spend money to figure out what’s going on but I have so many other things I’d rather do with my time.
Something I could do instead of buying and playing Mariostro Strikers? Well how about simply zooming in on different parts of the AI-generated cover art for the game and laughing at everything I find. That’s free and a lot of fun. For example, look at this shit:
Anyway, I’ve reached out to Xbox about this and asked if the company is going to remove it anytime soon or if it was even aware of it. I’m also curious if Xbox will change anything to stop these knock-offs from appearing. Remember that time in 2022 when a God of War clone appeared on the Xbox store? That eventually got pulled, but only after the internet found it and joked about it for a few days.
Mariostro Strikers: Soccer League is out now on Xbox. I’d uh, not buy it, but hey, I’m not your dad. So do whatever you want. Waste your money. I don’t care!
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