Konami sends Cease and Desist to Castlevania fan project

AyanamiRei0

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Oh what's this IP we have but never really use let's make a Pachinko machine instead of making a proper game - Konami 2016
 

Luckkill4u

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konami deserves to die for that , mgsv was a HIDEO KOJIMA game , not a konami game . so let`s clear that up right now.
The right to MGS is owned by Konami thus it's a Konami game. Although it was directed by Kojima, top brass pulled quite a bit of content from the game and caused quite a bit of trouble with Kojima and Konami. Legally nobody is allowed to say anything of the situation or the pulled content.

Moral of the story Konami is a smelly piece of shit gambling company.
 

Meteor7

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yup , forgot to mention that
Well, that's no kinds of kosher. Yeah, a C&D is actually proper justice for this case, it just happened to be enforced by Satan. Profiting from another's intellectual property shouldn't be allowed if we want a society where creative licences mean anything.
 

Demifiend

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Wait, this was kickstarted?

Yep, here is my proof
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/103682474/castlevania-1-remake

And the developer was shady as fuck too, he talked about raising 70.000 USD just to actually buy the licensee necessary to "own" the game or at least a permit to actually develop that game, but again, who in their right mind would think about making a kickstarter for an actual licensee?

The developer was just inexperienced, clueless, naive and at the end of the day, he didn't capitalize his focus on the game, this was, I repeat, the inevitable
 

Kurt91

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I was on this guy's side up until I heard that it was KickStarted. You want to make a fan-game, good for you. Have at it. I've seen a large number of Castlevania fan-games, some of them remakes of other games, some of which were unique games with a Castlevania setting and characters. Once you start actually asking for money and want to profit from it, that's when I'm on the company's side. There is a reason copyright exists, and the company that owns the license should be the ones to make money off of it.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against fan-games. I got upset when AM2R got shut down, because while it was a remake, it was a non-profit fan-game with a huge amount of original content. Even so, if the guy behind AM2R had been asking for money, then I would have been on Nintendo's side. I have a similar feeling as far as Doujin games go. I don't have an issue with seeing Touhou fan-games, but I always feel weird seeing a fan-made Touhou game being sold and charged for. (Although as far as I'm aware, copyright laws are different in Japan, and the developer of the Touhou series has already stated that he has no problem with this)

If this guy wasn't to make a for-profit Castlevania game, then by all means, he can go right ahead. HOWEVER, there are certain things that he needs to do before he can do this. He needed to make his initial demo, and then send it to Konami as an example of and reassurance of quality, while asking for a license and paying the appropriate costs for said license, before going through with everything the way that he had.

Look at Bloodstained. There is a reason why the original creator of the Castlevania series is making his own game WITHOUT the Castlevania license and name after leaving Konami. It is blatantly Castlevania in everything but name, and so he's been doing just fine with it.
 
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AyanamiRei0

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Yep, here is my proof
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/103682474/castlevania-1-remake

And the developer was shady as fuck too, he talked about raising 70.000 USD just to actually buy the licensee necessary to "own" the game or at least a permit to actually develop that game, but again, who in their right mind would think about making a kickstarter for an actual licensee?

The developer was just inexperienced, clueless, naive and at the end of the day, he didn't capitalize his focus on the game, this was, I repeat, the inevitable

iQhxAaZ.png

Damn
 

Tigran

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My question is.. Why not make a new character, a few new items and enemies and then release it as a game "Inspired by Castlevania" same with the Pokemon Fangames?

That seems to make a hell of a lot more sense then using the IPs and getting C&Ds.
 

Captain_N

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should have developed it in secret and then just put the final on the web. cant shut that down. torrents say hi. besides shouldn't be making money off another IP. if i was to make a mega man game using mega man ip i would not do it for money. once that shit is done no one is gonna know I made it. cant send a letter to a ghost....
 

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I was going to side with the guy until I read that kickstarter page. Christ...it takes some effort to be more moronic than konami, but he manages to pull it off.

the other challenge is working out all the legal stuff.
i prefer to fill my brain with how to make games, not how to do business,
so i'll probably get someone else to help me out on that.
Hey idiot...how about making a non-franchise game, then? Yeah, it'll get you less funding (a whole freaking DOZEN less funders), but if you make a decent clone/lookalike it'll find its audience.



Oh, and seriously: that should be mentioned in the OP. The guy knew it in advance. I guess it's okay to mention that you don't have a license on a franchise yet and will need to be bought, but the very fact that he got a C&D letter means he only started negotiations after being caught. You don't have to be a freaking lawyer or diplomat to see how that isn't the best way to go
 
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ChaosBoi

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I'm surprised the project held out this long to be honest. I remember hearing about this project quite awhile back and was expecting him to get shut down quickly.
 

Raylight

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Maybe fans wouldn't have to make these games if Konami would actually give us some fucking games!
After killing off Silent Hills Konami is dead to me. Whatever they do now is no interest to me unless the do a Silent Hill Remaster.

Nah, totally expected, the guy was Kickstarting a project based on an actual licensee existence, it was only a matter of time until Konami noticed that, and C&D up his ass.

If you're gonna make a fan game, do it indiscreetly, specially if it is from a company like Konami. You can't just say "Hey dudez, lol, imma making mah castlovonia remake on kuckstartah! i hope i can get universah following on thas"

Because if you do, well, it is evident, there may be some companies like Capcom that are very lenient when it comes to their properties, heck, even one of their "official" games is essentially a fan game, but one thing is Capcom, and another thing is Konami, and you know who is the stricter between those two at the end of the day.
Capcom hired the guys that were doing the re2 remake to help with the official.
 

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