3D Asset Leaking refers to the unauthorized extraction and distribution of proprietary 3D models from video games and digital projects. Initially prevalent within the Roblox platform, this practice has evolved over time, with leakers expanding their activities to include indie games and other digital content. In recent years it has become more and more of a prevelant issue within the Titanic community.
Origin on Roblox[]
Example of an early Roblox leak
In the 2010s, Roblox's weak encryption, young userbase, and often non-serious nature of its assets made it a prime target for asset leakers within the platform. Users could easily upload and share models and ripping was extremely simple, leading to the widespread dissemination of both original and unauthorized content. The lack of stringent verification processes allowed for the proliferation of low-quality or stolen models, which cluttered the platform and raised concerns among developers in regards to claiming authorship.
Shift to Indie Games and Sketchfab[]
A screenshot of the leaked dollhouse model on Sketchfab circa May 2025.
By 2025, leakers began to to shift their focus away from Roblox alone, focusing instead on indie games and utilizing platforms like Sketchfab to distribute stolen assets.
This shift was marked by a notable incident involving Titanic: Honor and Glory, an indie game developed by Vintage Digital Revival. On May 4, 2025, assets from the game's demos were leaked onto Sketchfab by a user impersonating content creator Jude Johnstone. This caused him signifigant mental trauma, often being accused or targeted as the leaker. The suspect was later identified as most likely being Presley Griffiths, a user from the Roblox maritime community.
These uploads often included harmful comments and failed to credit the original creators, potentially misleading users into downloading proprietary content without authorization. Assets by Virtual Valley Games were also leaked containing harmful comments in their descriptions.
This was not the first time 3d assets were leaked onto Sketchfab, a similar incident had happened before with TornadoHarry years prior, however this was the first time assets were ripped from a video game and illegally distributed onto Sketchfab. A lawsuit almost followed suit, however failure to obtain details of the account led to this being dropped.
Impact and Response[]
The leakage of assets from Titanic: Honor and Glory prompted the developers to explore encryption technologies to safeguard their work against future breaches.
The incident also raised awareness to the dangers of 3d asset platforms, the dollhouse model raking 106 downloads within three days. Plus the ability for the assets to be imported and used on any indie game or software beyond just Roblox or Unreal Engine.
Possible Solutions[]
Unity[]
Unity developers have several tools at their disposal to mitigate 3D asset leaking:
- Asset Bundles & Addressables: By packing assets into encrypted asset bundles or using the Addressables system, developers can make it more difficult for unauthorized users to directly extract assets from game files.
- Obfuscation: Tools like IL2CPP and third-party code obfuscators can make reverse-engineering more complex, protecting both code and embedded asset references.
- Server-Side Streaming: While this only really applies to online games, moving critical assets to secure servers and streaming them at runtime minimizes the number of assets stored locally on a user's machine, making direct extraction more challenging.
Roblox[]
Roblox faces unique challenges due to its online-first platform and built-in sharing systems, however in recent years tools like Byfron have helped reduce the leaking issue:
- Closing games when not in use: This is a common solution, primarily used for voyage groups. Experiences are locked and only made public during a respective roleplay voyage.
- Proprietary anti-cheats: Another common method is scripting in proprietary anti-cheats on top of Roblox's default ones, detecting when a player is performing actions they're not supposed to.
Unreal Engine[]
Unreal Engine, being a popular target for indie game asset leaks, has also seen the development of protective measures:
- Pak File Encryption: Unreal's Pak system allows developers to encrypt game content, making it much harder to extract assets without decryption keys.
- Mesh Obfuscation Tools: Third-party tools can alter mesh structures to make automated extraction more difficult, even if files are accessed.
- Digital Rights Management (DRM) Integration: Combining asset encryption with DRM platforms such as Denuvo Anti-Tamper can create additional legal and technical barriers to prevent asset theft.