Is no fan-made Nintendo game safe?
Nintendo continues its crusade against online games featuring its licenced properties, as the studio recently filed a mass takedown notice that calls for the removal of over 500 online games.
This takedown notice was aimed squarely at the website Game Jolt who have been informed that they will need to take down 562 of their previously hosted games if they wish to be in compliance with Nintendo's copyright claims. Many of the games in question are rather simple fan-made titles that either pay tribute to a certain Nintendo property. All, however, do feature thinly veiled (if they are veiled at all) inclusions of Nintendo characters.
A copy of the official DMCA takedown notice that Game Jolt received has made its way online and, interestingly enough, seems to focus entirely on any games the site hosted that featured characters from the Mario, Zelda, or Pokemon franchises. Besides being three of the most popular Nintendo properties, these names are also notable when you consider the recent rumors that suggest new Pokemon, Zelda, and Mario games will launch with the Nintendo NX.
Of course, these 562 games aren't the only fan projects to get axed as part of Nintendo's recent copyright crackdowns. That highly-acclaimed remake of Metroid 2, for instance, was removed not too long ago, and, shortly thereafter, the makers of the unofficial Pokemon sequel known as Pokemon Uranium also got hit with a takedown notice shortly after their game was made publically available following nine years of work. Of course, there's also the rather disheartening story of Nintendo forcing Archive.org to remove the online collection of Nintendo Power magazines that had been assembled on the website.
It's becoming increasingly clear that Nintendo intends to enforce a zero tolerance policy as it relates to any fan-made games featuring their properties. While far from surprising from a business perspective, it is nonetheless a bit disappointing to see some of the more impressive fan efforts that have appeared online in the last few months stricken from existence before many of the gamers who would have been able to enjoy them the most even had the chance to do so.
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