Dbrand, a consumer electronics accessories company with a much longer “controversies” section on its Wikipedia page than you’d expect from such a thing, now finds itself in hot water again after attempting to sell a Steam Machine case themed around the Weighted Companion Cube from Portal. Just one problem: Dbrand did not obtain permission from Valve to do so.
This week, after going so far as to send out physical samples of the case to press, Dbrand announced on Reddit that the cube’s flying off shelves and into the incinerator.
“On November 12th 2025, the day the Steam Machine was announced, we put up a concept render and sign-up page to see if anyone would be interested in a Companion Cube enclosure,” the company wrote. “It went moderately viral, with over fifteen thousand people signing up to be notified in the first day. In the months that followed, we built the idea into something real without ever asking Valve if we could. We’re going to regret that decision for a very long time.”
Dbrand claims that more than one thousand hours of engineering work went into the case, and it was redesigned from scratch more than once. Further, the company says that following the case’s launch on June 22, it quickly became the second-fastest selling product in its whole history. It is, if nothing else, odd that nobody involved in this laborious process thought to reach out to Valve.
Valve, according to Dbrand, agrees.
“Shortly after [launch], Valve’s legal team reached out,” Dbrand wrote. “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. We took everything down and made an appeal. We asked Valve whether there was any way to keep the project alive: properly licensed, with their blessing, on their terms. They said no. Given our backwards approach of building first and asking permission later, it was a fair answer.”
This is not the first time Dbrand has made the puzzling decision to create an accessory for which it could be sued by a gaming giant. Back in 2021, it attempted to release custom PS5 faceplates, something for which Sony had sued another company in the past. At the time, Dbrand even dared Sony to sue it, at which point the purveyor of all things PlayStation replied with a cease and desist. Dbrand ultimately redesigned the product to avoid infringement.
Are these elaborate marketing schemes or evidence of institutional boneheadedness? As is often the case in situations like these, why not both?
“To everyone who was as excited about this project as we were: thank you, and sorry,” Dbrand wrote of the Companion Cube case. “Refunds are being issued today. If it hasn’t landed in your account by the end of this week, you know how to reach us. To Valve: thank you for Portal, and sorry for the headache. We should’ve asked first.”
