Accessory maker Dbrand is known for elaborate console covers and online stunts. Its latest appears to have completely backfired in a very bad way. Back when the Steam Machine was announced, Dbrand revealed a Companion Cube cover for Valve’s new gaming PC and it looked spectacular. Now that the Steam Machine is actually ready to ship, Dbrand has revealed that it didn’t actually have permission to license the Portal object’s likeness and Valve is shutting the whole thing down.
“We launched around 3am on Monday, June 22nd,” the company wrote in a new post on Reddit this week. “Overnight, it became the second-fastest selling product in our 15-year history, behind only the Switch 2 Killswitch. Shortly after, Valve’s legal team reached out. They stated that the Companion Cube is Valve intellectual property, for which dbrand does not have a license. They requested we take down the product and launch film immediately. This was entirely within their rights, and they were direct, fair, and respectful throughout.”
Dbrand has since “eviscerated” any mention of the Steam Machine Companion Cube cover from its website and social media accounts, including YouTube. Everyone who pre-ordered one is getting a refund. It’s still unclear why the company decided to move forward with its “moderately viral” PC gaming accessory instead of figuring out a partnership with Valve ahead of time.
You had months to prepare and nobody at the company thought that "hey, we're about to sell a commercial product that contains someone else's IP, maybe we should ask them"? Like, seriously.
— kron123456789 (@kroshkaruiya) June 29, 2026
“The entire product was redesigned from scratch more than once, just to get the way it cradles the console exactly right,” Dbrand wrote. “We literally rented out a university campus to film the launch video. By the end, we were losing money on every $99 Poverty Cube sold, but it didn’t matter. This had turned into a passion project for the entire organization.”
It’s unclear how much money Dbrand has lost on the whole venture. Some have speculated it could be quite a lot. But the company was never shy about leaning into the Valve hype to promote its own product. The original Companion Cube trailer even ran with the Half-Life 3 rumors that were circulating like wildfire last fall. “We’re going to regret that decision for a very long time,” Dbrand wrote.
It’s a shame, too, because creators who were sent early versions of the Steam Machine case to review and share videos about were largely impressed with it. “As someone who was lucky enough to be a part of this launch, I will be the first to tell you that they actually put a lot of thought into this thing,” wrote tech YouTuber Tyler Price on X. “It’s easily one of the most detailed products they’ve made and probably one of the coolest tie ins for gaming i’ve seen in such a long time.” Another simply joked, “Apparently this is a Collector’s Item now.”
Dbrand is used to this sort of thing. Back after the launch of the PlayStation 5, it aggressively provoked Sony into a legal dispute over its black cover plates for the new console. A rambling corporate shitpost ensued. We’ll see if this ends up being just the first phase of another social media clout-chasing cycle. It would be a shame if the Companion Cube didn’t get a second chance.
