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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[MetoMeto]

If you would have less interest in this game if it wasn’t a Metroid game, that would seem to strengthen Nintendo’s position.

Im not giving solutions here or what shoud or shouldnt be done, im just saying how it is...

 

[Exidous]

No. That just confuses me further. I am not a lawyer, but I am a massive politics nerd. Even so, anyone with a basic understanding of US copyright law would know that commercial intent doesn't determine if a work is infringing someone else's copyright.

The absence of a commercial purpose is a huge element of the fair use test which is the primary defense to a charge of copyright infringement.

 

[daemonspudguy]

The absence of a commercial purpose is a huge element of the fair use test which is the primary defense to a charge of copyright infringement.

According to the Stanford University Copyright & Fair Use library "Another important fair use factor is whether your use deprives the copyright owner of income or undermines a new or potential market for the copyrighted work. Depriving a copyright owner of income is very likely to trigger a lawsuit. This is true even if you are not competing directly with the original work". It can reasonably be said that the creator of the fan game in question was depriving Nintendo of a potential market. Again, I disagree with that position, but a case can be made for it.

 

[KimKong]

I'm so sick of this bull....
But if the creators of these kinds of fan projects would relax a bit and not put out any demos of nothing before the game is finished - well yeah!

 

[xdarkmario]

If your making a fan project make sure your anonymous and untraceable, when they try to shut one down sprout it again from another location.