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Nintendo takes down a hundreds of fangames from GameJolt, 4 years later

Link to the copyright notice


Unless you're missing out all the news that happened this month, Ol' Big N has took down hundreds(!) of fangames from Game Jolt. This isn't the first time it has happened, they did the exact same thing back in 2016 as well. According to MFGG:
Originally posted by Mario Fan Games Galaxy
This was likely because Game Jolt allows monetization of games via ads, and has a pretty active fangaming scene.

Nintendo did not give any reasoning for this besides copyright infringement, so all we can do is to guess.

Not surprising though, the company even just threw a C&D to a SSB event last year, which led to cancellation, 'causing people to riot and throwing rants to Nintendo. Not to mention about the RIAA taking down youtube-dl for sure!

But why did you just post this in the General Discussion subforum?

I'm putting this here so it does not distract with the Gaming subforum above. Sounds like FREAKY FRIDAY to me, though!
I'm not surprised and I'd say that I kinda don't have much of anything to say about this in specific. But there's definitely something that I felt like saying for quite a few months (maybe even a year or so)...

I'm kinda tired of Nintendo and their fans in general, due their attitude. It's not just about fangames (although it's a big enough reason for me to be disillusioned with them for a long time now), but everything else. They have some pretty terrible practices, the bad online, overpriced stuff, forced scarcity of products, hardware faults of the Switch that they want to pretend don't exist, and probably more stuff.

I used to be a pretty big fan of Nintendo (like probably most people in this site, I guess), but... not anymore. It doesn't help that I'm more attached to old Nintendo consoles and games, but I don't have much of an interest in most of the modern stuff, with the only new thing that really made me crazy about wanting it being Splatoon.

I feel that while their modern games aren't bad or anything, they kinda lost their appeal to me (most of them at least). I'd probably still play any Kirby and Zelda game, and some other stuff here and there. But I feel like due to their new philosophies for games being pretty sterile, with little ambition or experimentation, just focusing on a broad audience usually, I kinda outgrew my taste for any of that.

You know... most of my favorite series by them are pretty much dead now (like Wario Land, F-Zero and Panel de Pon), or heavily diferent in terms of design. Nowadays, indie games and SMW hacks fill that spot for me. Right now, some of the best "core" platformers are coming out, and they're all indies or SMW hacks, they have creative ideas, crazy gimmicks and a lot of experimentation.

I don't hate Nintendo, and I think a lot of their games are great for beginners, but I don't think I'll ever care as much as I did back then. Their focus shifted, and I don't blame them, as this isn't the 90s or 2000s anymore, but I do miss their smaller and more experimental games. Thankfully, the indie and hacking scene fulfills that spot for me.
Хуй войне!

桐生会FOREVER #ThankYouCoco / Rest in peace, Near, thank you for everything
Quite frankly, I'm not surprised. In fact, I'm more surprised Nintendo didn't take them down sooner considering those projects were being monetized.

-----------

STELLA!
Yeah, it doesn't come as a surprise, considering how Nintendo has changed (especially in recent years). Nintendo used to be a sympathetic company developing great games. Nowadays, Nintendo is just a company developing great games.

That isn't to say that everything about Nintendo is bad nowadays. One thing I still like about Nintendo is that they seem to value their employees and that they aren't known for being abusive or for demanding ridiculous crunch times and stuff. Just for that alone, they're already still better than the majority of other big game developers out there. As for their relationship with fans, though, yeah, that has pretty much suffered immensely in recent years, and I don't really see them changing for the better again, since they seem to be doing well with their new strategies. That Super Mario 3D All-Stars stunt they pulled is still disgusting.
Feel free to visit my website/blog - it's updated rarely, but it looks pretty cool!
Ahem! Checking out from the copyright notice, this one seems to be overlooked:
Quote
The web site at gamejolt.com generates revenue from advertising banners displayed on the site and advertisements played while users wait for the games to load.
The Hacking of PuyoPuyo. Come join the fun, friends. 『いけいけ団長、頑張れ頑張れ団長!』
Help us raise funds for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. #ДопомагаємоРазом / #HelpTogether
“Even if you personally are so dissatisfied with life that you want the world to end, surely the cruel reality is that it will continue on, unchanging. All the better for someone perfectly content, like me.”
Aya Shameimaru, Touhou Suzunaan ~ Forbidden Scrollery
This just proves that no matter what you do even if it's legal, Nintendo will still take you down if they feel like it, even SMWC.
Originally posted by Aram
This just proves that no matter what you do even if it's legal, Nintendo will still take you down if they feel like it, even SMWC.

Does it is legal?
Originally posted by RPG Hacker
Originally posted by monkey03297
Does it is legal?


You mean SMWC? Or fan games in general?

Fan games.
I don't think they're legal, no. They almost always contain at least some copyrighted material (be it graphics, music, or even just characters). They would only be legal if the copyright holders explicitly gave their permission to use their material.

That being said, a lot of times, they're simply tolerated (or, at the very least, not explicitly prohibited by their copyright holders). In the grand scheme of things, it's not too often that copyright holders actively go after fan games. However, it has happened more and more often recently, and especially Nintendo has been doing it somewhat regularly in the past couple of years.

There were actually even a few cases in the past where copyright holders have gone ahead and licensed fan games to distribute them officially. For example, the Mega Man x Street Fighter fan game, which was licensed and distributed by Capcom. However, without explicit permission from the copyright holders, it's always a gamble. A game might be fine, but it might just as well get a DMCA.
Feel free to visit my website/blog - it's updated rarely, but it looks pretty cool!
The only big company that seems to be fine with it (in the past few years) is Sega. Others are more nebulous, sometimes letting people do it and sometimes not (like Konami). Capcom also seems to be fine with the insane amount of Mega Man fangames.
Хуй войне!

桐生会FOREVER #ThankYouCoco / Rest in peace, Near, thank you for everything
I'm actually aware of at least two Mega Man Bettle Network fan games that got DMCAs from Capcom, but both of them were being monetized as far as I know, so that might have played into the decision. On top of that, one of them was actually going to be just a remake of an existing title. I speculate that this could also be part of the reason, since I expect Capcom to secretly be working on a Battle Network Legacy Collection.
I mean... I damn sure HOPE they are working on one!

But ultimately, there's no way to know. It's not like they need a reason for a DMCA. People who work on fan games can only hope to get away with it, there's never a gurantee.
Feel free to visit my website/blog - it's updated rarely, but it looks pretty cool!
The track record with Capcom (as far as I've seen) is taking down monetized stuff, remakes might be in a nebulous spot. The Famicom renditions of MM7 and 8 are a thing, but they're not 1-to-1 renditions of the source games and actually have less features to mimic the simple style of the 8-bit games.

Maybe they're fine with smaller scale reimaginings, but not traditional remakes, since there are some Resident Evil 8-bit styled stuff out there and they haven't been affected (I think RE1 and 4). Well, at least it makes sense and is pretty consistent if that's the case.
Хуй войне!

桐生会FOREVER #ThankYouCoco / Rest in peace, Near, thank you for everything

Extras



I should have something witty to put here (even if it's just to update dated info), shouldn't I?

Advertising Space

Originally posted by RPG Hacker
Yeah, it doesn't come as a surprise, considering how Nintendo has changed (especially in recent years). Nintendo used to be a sympathetic company developing great games. Nowadays, Nintendo is just a company developing great games.


Nintendo has always been like this.

I disagree. The aggressive takedowns of fan games and the many shady business practices have only really become this common in maybe the last decade or so. Before that point, I really only remember a few minor takedowns from Nintendo at most.
Feel free to visit my website/blog - it's updated rarely, but it looks pretty cool!
Yeah, I remember hearing about it in the gaming news when Nintendo used the DMCA hammer on Gamejolt's fan-games, both Mario and Pokemon games. (Some Art and Misc too?)

Actually, I didn't know Gamejolt got hit with DMCA the first time back in 2016, I only knew the recent one.