Nintendo and fan games
The stance of
Despite acknowledging that these takedowns are within Nintendo's rights, critics have argued that Nintendo should set guidelines and policies on fan content in a similar vein as other major publishers, such as Riot Games, Bethesda Softworks, and Sega, in order to maintain fan goodwill and allow for free expression. While former Nintendo president Satoru Iwata expressed interest in adopting such guidelines in 2010, Nintendo has since maintained a hardline stance, removing anything remotely popular that might infringe upon a Nintendo copyright. Despite Nintendo's assertions that they are protecting their copyright, their common takedowns of free, not-for-profit games have been described as legally unnecessary, as they are normally used as a "last line of defense" against those seeking to profit from another's IP.[1]
History
In 2016, Nintendo issued DMCA takedowns for hundreds of fan games hosted on the platform
In March 2024, former lawyer of The Pokemon Company Don McGowan interviewed with Aftermath about his time working at Bungie and the company. McGowan also discussed about the company's approach to cease and desist and point out that there was many discussions about the 2024 video game Palworld due of its similarity to the Pokémon franchise and Nintendo taking down a mod that added Pokémon for the game.[8][9] Around the same month, Relic Castle, an unofficial Pokémon forum website has been taken offline after being allegedly received a DMCA takedown notice. The details of the alleged notice haven't been confirmed, so as if the takedown comes directly from The Pokemon Company. GamesRadar+ and VG247 noted It likely due to the fan games that were shared in the website, although the website didn't host the games directly.[10][11] On April 2024, the sandbox game Garry’s Mod receive copyright takedown requests from Nintendo to remove all of the downloadable content that infringe Nintendo copyright. The game's creator Garry Newman made a post telling users that they may have noticed certain Nintendo-related contents removed. While Garry’s Mod began removing Nintendo-related contents, some users believed the requests were from a troll however, Newman confirmed that he has been assured the takedown requests are legit.[12]
List of takedowns
- April 2010: Takedown of Pokemon MMO Pokenet.[13]
- March 2015: Takedown of fan made remake of Super Mario 64 titled Super Mario 64 HD.[14]
- May 2015: Takedown of The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time 2D, a fan remake of Ocarina of Time in the style of A Link to the Past.[15]
- April 2016: Takedown of Zelda tribute game Zelda30Tribute.[16]
- August 2016: Discontinuation of AM2R, an unofficial remake of Metroid II.[17]
- August 2016: Takedown of Pokemon fangame Pokemon Uranium.[18]
- September 2016: Takedown of No Mario's Sky, a fangame of No Man's Sky and Super Mario Bros. Game rebranded as DMCA's Sky.[19]
- May 2016: Takedown of website and GitHub source code for Full Screen Mario, a web-based recreation of Super Mario Bros.[20]
- November 2016: AM2R and Pokemon Uranium have "Best Fan Creation" nominations revoked from The Game Awards.[21]
- December 2016: Pokemon fan hack Pokemon Prism receives cease and desist four days before release.[22][23]
- December 2020: Removal of 379 fan games from Game Jolt.[24][25]
- January 2022: Removing videos of Second Wind mod for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.[26]
- January 2022: Removal of YouTube videos for fan-made Pokemon first person shooter.[27]
- January 2024: DMCA takedown of Palworld mod to add Pokemon.[8]
- March 2024: Pokemon fan game site Relic Castle receives DMCA takedown.[10]
- April 25, 2024: DMCA takedown of Nintendo-related Steam Workshop content for Garry's Mod.[12]
Reception
In 2016, Sean Buckley of Engadget remarked on the takedown of 500 games. While noting that Nintendo was "within its right to put a lid on these fan projects", he called the takedowns "always a bummer". He described the removed games as "passionate fan works", and AM2R as "lovingly crafted".[2] Kyle Orland of Ars Technica remarked on this as well, saying that while cease-and-desist letters were nothing new in the gaming industry, Nintendo's stance was "wide-ranging" and "hardline".[28] Jon Partridge of Red Bull said that while most of the removed games would "not be missed", several of the removed games were nevertheless "amazing", such as Pokémon Uranium and AM2R.[29]
In 2017, Owen S. Good of
In 2019, Luke Plunkett of Kotaku said that Nintendo's copyright takedowns were so "predictable and tragic" that they had become an Internet meme, noting that Nintendo was disproportionately focused on removing fan games, while ignoring fan art, music, etc. While saying that Nintendo's lawyers have a "job to do" and that they should not be blamed, he still expressed his opinion that "the letter of the law can and does suck", and that the company was failing to distinguish between "things that are trying to steal from them" and "homages to their legacy". He described Nintendo's response at the time as "almost algorithmic" and "ruthless" in "shutting down even the most innocuous projects". He highlighted Nintendo's former Creator's Program for YouTube videos as an example to emulate in the fan game realm, and said that, even outside Nintendo's legal departments, many in Nintendo, such as employees at Game Freak, enjoyed seeing fan games. He also noted that Installation 01, a Halo fan game, had reached a deal with Microsoft to continue development, saying that such things could be possible with Nintendo fan games as well.[30]
References
- ^ a b Good, Owen S. (May 6, 2017). "Despite the certainty of takedowns, fan developers still pursue Nintendo's works". Polygon. Archived from the original on 2024-01-10. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
- ^ a b Buckley, Sean (2016-09-05). "Nintendo issues DMCA takedown for hundreds of fan games". Engadget. Archived from the original on 2021-08-28. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
- ^ Alexandra, Heather (2016-11-21). "Game Awards Show Mysteriously Removes Two Nintendo Fan Games". Kotaku Australia. Archived from the original on 2024-01-10. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
- ^ Alexandra, Heather (2016-12-21). "Another Pokémon Fan Game Says Nintendo Shut Them Down". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 2024-01-10. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
- ^ Morton, Lauren (2020-01-03). "The fan made Mother 4 has reappeared with the new name Oddity". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on 2024-01-11. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
- Nintendo Life. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
- ^ Fahey, Mike (2021-08-27). "Awesome Metroid Prime 2D Fan Project Gets Nintendo'd". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 2021-08-28. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
- ^ a b Bellingham, Hope (2024-03-14). "Former Pokemon lawyer explains why Nintendo goes after so many fan games: "No one likes suing fans"". GamesRadar+. Retrieved 2024-04-06.
- ^ "Nintendo DMCAs Palworld Mod That Makes Everything Pokémon". Kotaku. 2024-01-23. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ a b Lewis, Catherine (March 22, 2024). "After almost 10 years, unofficial Pokemon website known for sharing fan-made games shuts down after reportedly receiving a DMCA takedown notice". GamesRadar+. Retrieved May 20, 2024.
- ^ Kuhnke, Oisin (March 24, 2024). "First Nintendo emulators, now one of the biggest Pokemon fan game sites around gets hit with a DMCA takedown". VG247. Retrieved June 6, 2024.
- ^ a b Roth, Emma (April 25, 2024). "Garry's Mod is taking down decades of Nintendo-related add-ons". The Verge. Retrieved June 4, 2024.
- ^ "Nintendo shuts down fan-made Pokemon MMO". Yahoo Finance. 2010-04-02. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ "Nintendo issues takedown notice for Super Mario 64 HD project". Eurogamer.net. 2015-04-01. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ "Nintendo Shuts down The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time 2D?". Gaming Reinvented. 2015-05-19. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ "Nintendo kills 3D 'Zelda' tribute game on the web". Engadget. 2016-04-08. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ Frank, Allegra (2016-08-08). "Metroid 2 fan remake finally released, quickly hit with copyright claims". Polygon. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ISSN 1059-1028. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ Fields, Sarah (2016-09-05). "No Mario's Sky Fan Game Shut Down By Nintendo, Developer Finds Workaround". Game Rant. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ "Game Over: Nintendo Takes Down "Full Screen Mario" Code * TorrentFreak". Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ Orland, Kyle (2016-11-22). "Two Nintendo-themed fan games have been locked out of The Game Awards". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ "Another Pokémon Fan Game Says Nintendo Shut Them Down". Kotaku. 2016-12-21. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ Machkovech, Sam (2016-12-21). "Pokémon ROM hack stopped by Nintendo four days before launch". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ "Nintendo Mass DMCA Takedown Removes Hundreds of Fangames from Game Jolt * TorrentFreak". Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ "dmca/2020/2020-12-29-nintendo.md at main · gamejolt/dmca". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ "Nintendo Takes Down BoTW Mod Videos". Gaming Reinvented. 2022-01-13. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ Life, Nintendo (2022-01-22). "The Pokémon Company Sets Its Sights On YouTube Videos Of The Fan-Made 'Pokémon FPS'". Nintendo Life. Retrieved 2024-05-20.
- ^ Orland, Kyle (2016-09-02). "Nintendo's DMCA-backed quest against online fan games". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on 2021-11-23. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
- ^ Partridge, Jon (2016-09-30). "The amazing fan games Nintendo want to ban". Red Bull. Archived from the original on 2024-01-10. Retrieved 2024-01-10.
- ^ Plunkett, Luke (2019-06-27). "Nintendo's Lawyers Need To Chill". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 2023-11-01. Retrieved 2024-01-10.