Stellaris mobile version goes offline after discovery of stolen Halo artworkart

Paradox comes with a mobile version of its strategy game Stellaris, but the publisher has taken its beta offline again immediately after its release. The game turned out to contain artwork taken from Halo 4 without permission.

Paradox announced Stellaris: Galaxy Command on Tuesday. A beta version for Android and iOS was also released immediately, and users quickly noticed that the game features artwork created by the art director of Halo developer 343 Studios. Paradox acknowledges on Twitter that mistakes were made and apologizes. The game has been temporarily taken offline to remove the stolen artwork.

The mobile version of Stellaris is not based on the previous versions for PC and consoles. Paradox has outsourced the Android and iOS version to Gamebear, a developer from Hong Kong. Kotaku notes that that studio already released Nova Empire in 2017 and that the Stellaris mobile game is very similar.

Screenshot from Stellaris: Galaxy Command (left) and the original artwork by art director Kenny Magnussson