Quick Summary
Dbrand has had to pull its Companion Cube Steam Machine case after a legal notice from Valve.
The case was fully inspired by Valve's own assets in Portal and was designed without permission.
Gaming accessory manufacturer has made a habit of rubbing console manufacturers up the wrong way – with PlayStation and Nintendo in particular having issues with the upstart start-up. However, it seems to have gone too far this time.
Before Valve managed to announce its launch plans and pricing for the Steam Machine, Dbrand cheekily announced its own case for the forthcoming console – one that was based on the Weighted Companion Cube in Valve's Portal.
It looked great, got loads of publicity – including from T3 – and influencers took to YouTube to say just how cool it was. The only issue is Dbrand had missed out one important thing – permission.
At no point during its seven-month development did Dbrand ask Valve if it could make the case.
That has turned out to be a fatal decision, as the Companion Cube is now set for the dustbin. Valve's legal team not only requested the product was removed from the accessory firm's webstore along with all marketing videos and images, but it refused to enter licensing negotiations.
The Steam Machine Companion Cube is no more.
Dbrand has issued a humble statement explaining the situation, and has taken full responsibility: "On 12 November 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.
"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," it says.
"Over the next seven months, we poured our souls into this project. More than a thousand hours went into engineering from our industrial design team. Forty-four sets of injection molding tools were developed, one for each of the cube's sub-components.
"The entire product was redesigned from scratch more than once, just to get the way it cradles the console exactly right. 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 organisation.
"Unfortunately, being proud of the thing we made did not give us the right to make it."
The statement also goes on to say that none of this is Valve's fault, and that the legal team have been "direct, fair, and respectful throughout".
And if you are one of those who pre-ordered your Steam Machine Companion Cube last week, you will receive a full refund by the end of the day today.
That seems to be it for the project sadly, and we're no longer going to be able to put our new (and expensive) Steam Machines in what seems like their natural shell. Still, Dbrand will have a new range of skins to check out soon.
And it'll be hoping we'll do so in droves – after all, it has tooling and many man hours to pay for.
