To the surprise of few, Nintendo has caused the death of another fan game based on one of its properties. Prime 2D, a reimagining of Metroid Prime, but in a classic 2D style, which first appeared on the internet back in April 2021, and has received multiple updates since, has been shut down. The developers behind the fan project, Team SCU, posted an update to their website, saying that "for legal reasons" they have removed the link to the demo of the game that they had been working on, along with the soundtrack, which consisted of original music composed specifically for it. Team SCU had been working on and off Prime 2D since 2004, meaning it took a handful of months for lawyers to kill a fan game that had been in the making for well over a decade.

This bit of news follows the shutdown of the Project+ bracket at this year's Riptide tournament, while also ironically occurring during the same week as Sonic Amateur Games Expo, in which SEGA actively encourages fans to create fan-made romhacks and even full games based on their properties.

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[Clydefrosch]

Agree. Or Nintendo could also approach this type of situation like what Sega did especially if it is a really good one - absorb it or hire the guys behind the development. Not sure if it would pass up to Nintendo's standard or quality but whatever it is, making an enemy especially of the fans and community isn't the right move. I totally get they are just protecting their intellectual properties and it is within their rights, but usually people who painstakingly spend a lot of time making fan-made games on some of their franchises have passion, which also says a lot of the developer. Nintendo should not alienate their user base.

you say that like sega has hired the 10000+ people who made and make these games, when it was like, probably less than a dozen.
also. spending 16+ years not finishing a game also isn't the grandest accomplishment either. now i know, fan project, little time spend on it, no financial support. but still, what does nintendo gain from this other than rewarding the thing they can not reward honestly?

people just gotta understand that ultimately, for all studios but nintendo in particular, they can only make inspired games, that's just how it is

 

[Foxi4]

maybe next time don't preorder just because some dumb retailer gets twitchy fingers based on a fucking title reveal.
nintendo didn't ask you to earmark your money in advance.

also, yes, keeping ip alive is great, but not if you don't hold the legal rights to it anymore.
that's why disney is literally paying off the world to edit copyright laws every few decades so they can keep holding copyrights over rehashed ips they could only create because their original copyrights ran out.

again, the second someone tries this route with the sonic ip, sega is gonna have a hard time arguing that... only they can do and profit of sonic. it'd be unprofessional and it has to be someone who can throw a couple bucks towards lawyers for a bit. but they could do it

They absolutely will not due to 30 years of prior art. The purpose of a trademark is to distinguish it on the market as a genuine product. If another product clearly states that it is not a genuine article and it is not engaged in direct competition with the original, there can be no such confusion and the trademark is in no way threatened. The mark can only lose its strength if the protected item becomes so commonplace that it enters public domain. Unauthorised use of a trademarked property is indeed messy business, but I cannot imagine it reaching that point in this case since the brand recognition is too strong to disassociate it from the parent company owning it.

 

[Clydefrosch]

They absolutely will not due to 30 years of prior art. The purpose of a trademark is to distinguish it on the market as a genuine product. If another product clearly states that it is not a genuine article and it is not engaged in direct competition with the original, there can be no such confusion and the trademark is in no way threatened. The mark can only lose its strength if the protected item becomes so commonplace that it enters public domain. Unauthorised use of a trademarked property is indeed messy business, but I cannot imagine it reaching that point in this case since the brand recognition is too strong to disassociate it from the parent company owning it.

you know i'm no legal expert, but there's a difference between copyright and trademark.

 

[Foxi4]

you know i'm no legal expert, but there's a difference between copyright and trademark.

Don't forget the service mark!

EDIT: To draw a little parallel to other products, the name "Pampers" is a trademarked name of a specific brand of nappies. It's also how everybody calls nappies regardless of brand where I come from - it became part of the language. That doesn't mean that Procter & Gamble no longer owns the trademark, but it has weakened as the name itself became synonymous with the product. As far as the consumer is concerned, every nappy is a "pampers". If Nintendo actually wanted to protect their trademark, they would have to join forces with Konami and pursue everybody using the term "Metroidvania", since that's what the trademark actually protects, along with logos and other assorted guff.

 

[Lazyt]

Honestly why did they brag about this in a first place

 

[Jacobh]

Don't forget the service mark!

EDIT: To draw a little parallel to other products, the name "Pampers" is a trademarked name of a specific brand of nappies. It's also how everybody calls nappies regardless of brand where I come from - it became part of the language. That doesn't mean that Procter & Gamble no longer owns the trademark, but it has weakened as the name itself became synonymous with the product. As far as the consumer is concerned, every nappy is a "pampers". If Nintendo actually wanted to protect their trademark, they would have to join forces with Konami and pursue everybody using the term "Metroidvania", since that's what the trademark actually protects, along with logos and other assorted guff.

There are cases of companies losing trademarks because they have become generic or not shown they were actively protecting them. The word thermos lost it’s trademark (although they still have it with an uppercase T).

Metroidvania is actually perfect example of something that cannot be trademarked. It’s a term referring to an entire genre of games (not a specific product) and the word itself references two products.

Nintendo does have a trademark on Metroid Prime and the logo, color scheme and don’t used in conjunction. This game was literally called Metroid Prime 2D and directly referencing the product. Had they called it a Space Metroidvania and not used designs directly from Metroid Prime they would be fine.

I’d rather Nintendo not take down this game, but IP law doesn’t really care what I think.

 

[xdarkx]

I expected the C&D from Nintendo, but didn't expect it took them this long after the devs released the demo. But like I said in the original thread, seems like the devs are new and not aware on how protective Nintendo is with their IP.

 

[Shrommygnome]

What were they expecting? Its just a matter of time

 

[Jayro]

Stupid-ass should have kept it a secret until it was done.

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That's not fair that Nintendo again stopped a great fan-made game...

They did the same with N64 fan-game TLOZ: The Missing Link time ago...

Lol, I already made that game on the PS1 using RPG Maker in 1999. I created that title.

 

[RichardTheKing]

This is why i hate Nintendo and stopped supporting them years ago. Even worse than them, their hardcore defenders, bald, fat, and ugly 30 years old virgins on the internet. Literal dogshit of a company.

Inb4: I won't reply to any fat bastard saying "it's copyright, they're right!!".

So correlating "hardcore defending Nintendo" with baldness, weight issues, physical unattractiveness, three decades of age, and celibacy.
Ooookay. So what if someone's 29 or 31? Can they not be labelled "hardcore defenders"? Or what if they still have hair, like a lot of women do, and some proportion of men? Or if they have had intimacy before, like in their twenties or teens?

Great job generalising and stereotyping, guy.

 

[EvilJagaGenius]

So this discussion makes me sad as I'm trying to go into game development. I don't like working on total fangames as a rule and because of incidents like this, I'm trying to work on my own IP that I can make money off of and/or open-source as I wish. It doesn't depress me because of the thought of getting shut down at any moment by the IP owner, the depressing thought is having to shut down every fangame, piece of fanart, everything related to my own game for fear of losing my copyright, trademark, and IP.

...unless I conclude that that line of thinking is a complete lie. Which I do.

I know little about copyright law, but as many people have mentioned before, Sega seems to be doing just fine with their fanbase doing all their hard work for them. Bethesda doesn't seem to have lost any legal clout from fans fixing their games. Same for Valve and id Software, letting people use their engines and games as basis for their own projects. To say nothing of Mojang, Lego, many others. I see no practical legal necessity for nuking every fan creation connected to an IP. And yet...

This is also why I have no intention of developing for Nintendo systems outside of homebrew. Devkits are expensive and I just don't want to be associated with this.

 

[raxadian]

Stuff like this is why the Nes Metroid HD thing is a mod and not a fangame.

 

[fst312]

Was actually excited for this, fuck this bs

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Replace your Nintendo characters in your fangame with Touhou characters and you can sell your fangame on all platforms

It can still play like metroid prime too, you know inspired by metroid prime just like that recent game that was announced here that’s inspired by zelda.

 

[tabzer]

Raise your hand if you are oppressed by Nintendo.

 

[CMDreamer]

I believe the main issue is not about a fan project being made, but the fact that in making such fan project, the developer is using Nintendo's IP (i.e. Samus, Samus' ship, the Metroid name, etc.)

As already has been pointed out. Change all references to Nintendo's IP into your own concept and create your game and no one will ever bother you with C&D requests.

The main idea of the game can be kept intact and as good as it is while having its own "soul", no need to use someone's IP to make it a success, the developer has the main concept going perfectly as the already released demo can prove.

Edit.
From most comments here I can see that many people love to play victim's role and being "forced" to create something out of the ground as a threat.

 

[Brigand]

A shame. Nintendo are absolutely in the right but it's still annoying that they defend their IP with so much gusto when it comes to fan made games that are non-commercial. Fan games are a big part of keeping up the love for Nintendo. I hope this doesn't deter people from making their games, I just wish people would learn to finish and release them before advertising. Then again, I do understand how difficult this would be, especially if there is a large team involved in the game's development.

 

[deinonychus71]

This is why i hate Nintendo and stopped supporting them years ago. Even worse than them, their hardcore defenders, bald, fat, and ugly 30 years old virgins on the internet. Literal dogshit of a company.

Inb4: I won't reply to any fat bastard saying "it's copyright, they're right!!".

Some indies were able to release games including Nintendo IPs, Cadence of Hyrule being one.
There's a right, legal way to do this if you can convince the IP owner.

That doesn't mean I like how Nintendo deal with it either, heck I'm heavily involved in modding myself and I get how saddening it can be to have your work just torn apart by people who clearly don't like video games, but I'll defend them any day over the type of individual that you seem to represent.

 

[Boydy86]

Would be in Nintendos interests to adopt a platform where fan based games using their IP, could be uploaded and distributed freely, regardless of how crap it is. With a clause whereby if the game turns heads, they can drop a hammer that assimilates all copyrights. And maybe a small, "Pat on the back/don't quit your day job." cheque.

 

[Wavy]

Replace your Nintendo characters in your fangame with Touhou characters and you can sell your fangame on all platforms

Funny enough, people were somewhat doing this since 2005.

 

[64bitmodels]

Dude says on a predominantly Nintendo based website.

Nintendo are known for being extremely litigious, to the point where they're assholes about thier properties, but this is a well known fact and fan made games should be kept quiet until they're done, can't stop the ball once it starts rolling.

Shame really that they're the Pixar of game makers, geniuses in their art.

A predominantly nintendo based website full of dudes who constantly hack their consoles to get free games from them because we don't like supporting them