That's utter bull****! Nintendo should let the fans create games with their IPs in that game. I guess if they're going to do that they should also take down all fanart and videos with their IPs presented in it as well.
Maybe it's because it's a game platform.
They could kill smash flash if they wanted too. It’s not a “parody” so it’s not protected under that logic.
First off going after fans directly is a bit of a double edged sword for any major company. Yea Nintendo does it, but doing it too much puts them in a bad light. Smash Flash survives probably because Nintendo doesn’t really see themselves developing a 2D smash bros game so they look the other way.
As people mentioned, it’s more likely that Nintendo realizes they need to nip this in the bud early before higher quality creations start appearing on dreams. Its not that they can’t go after smash flash, they just don’t.
What I notice with fan games being taken down:
- They either offer the same Or near quality as whatever Nintendo is pushing out currently.
-Include a novel idea that Nintendo didn’t think of themselves
- Becomes a notable mod for a game they’ve created
- Offers features in game that are beyond anything they’ve done.
SIGH...
It's clear that you guys don't get this **** at all and your disdain for Nintendo for protecting their IPs is ridiculous. Clearly, none of you have ever made anything remotely successful and had to defend it from lazy hacks on the internet.
So, let me break it down for you.
Protecting your intellectual properties (IPs) whether they be copywritten or trademarked is a very VERY big deal for businesses. If you don't defend them rather rigorously, it can be potentially used against you in the court of law.
For a close-to-heart example, I take you back into a horrible time where I myself...was a Brony.
*Audible Audience Gasp!*
Yes yes, I know, how dreadful of me! Still, it was true, and during that phase in my life there was a team of game designers who put all their resources into producing a My Little Pony fighting game, which was aptly named Fighting Is Magic. Now Hasbro already was known to crack down on stuff like this: there were a number of games that had been made that they slapped the creators with a C&D. There was an MMORPG made in the MLP Universe, a MLP version of Mario Kart, some puzzle games...lots of cool projects and all of them taken down by Hasbro, yet for some reason Fighting Is Magic remained alive.
Many of us wondered why for a while. Did Hasbro not know about it yet? Did they know but were okay with it? It was a mystery up until mid-2013 when EVO did a donation drive. They funds went to charity, and you would donate and nominate which game in a line-up of choices YOU wanted to see on the EVO main stage. Keep in mind for those of you who do not know, EVO often has smaller tournaments that can still have prize pools, but the big ones that Mr. Wizard announces himself are the ones that will be livestreamed and will be on the big fancy stage with a ton of money and a trophy to win.
So, this donation drive was to put one of the listed games in the big-time fighting game spotlight. As many of you here know, Melee won that spot, but here is what you didn't know I'll bet: Fighting Is Magic was in a landsliding first place for a long time during the donation period.
You heard that right, Smash friends: a My Little Pony fan-made fighting game was kicking the ass of Melee, SkullGirls (Launch Party EVERYDAY!), and many others by a very wide margin. You may think this is ridiculous, but it was true, and here is why I can attest to that: I was actually considering donating and picking Fighting Is Magic as my choice, even over SkullGirls (my favorite fighting game of all time), and I was debating it because I needed my own money and Fighting Is Magic was SOOOOO far ahead I felt like it didn't really matter if I did so or not.
Well, you may ask, how did Melee win then? Well as it turns out it would seem the devs of Fighting Is Magic (who called themselves Mane6Dev or just Mane6) didn't really know or expect such support and...well, the game was never going to be ready for a main stage at EVO anyway. See, at that time, the most recent build had Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, and Applejack at like 90% with Pinkie Pie around 80% or so while Rainbow Dash was at around 60% and Fluttershy was around 30% at BEST. The team was small and this was a side project that earned them no money, so they did what they could with the time they had, and they were still polishing up the foundation of the game in some ways. There was a lot of sprite work that still needed to be done for most of the cast and they just did not have confidence they would have a final build ready in time for EVO.
So it was announced that Fighting Is Magic would no longer be a selectable option for donations and if Fighting Is Magic still wins at the end, whoever is second place would win instead, but that Mane6Dev will most definitely have a spot at EVO as smaller booth or room to have people play their current build. Melee ended up getting more donations of course but I now laugh at the idea that in another timeline, a fan-made My Little Pony fighting game beat out Melee for a main stage at EVO. XD
So this was kinda big news, and when EVO came around a lot of people got footage of Fighting Is Magic and showed off cool stuff and uploaded it to various places on the internet...and it wasn't long after that Man6Dev told us about their C&D they got from Hasbro. The fact that the game had been a serious contender for a main stage feature at the biggest fighting game in the world coupled with the rising popularity forced them to make a move. Sure, they could have not done anything, but a non-Hasbro official game at the biggest tournament when Hasbro owns the MLP IP? Surely this would be a factor that would have been brought up in court later on should someone have made another game and perhaps tried to profit off it.
So hopefully, this helps you understand this a bit more. Nintendo HAS to do these takedowns just to keep them safe in the future, and I am positive there is a whole team dedicated to keeping track of these things and making the decision on when something has gone too far. So that Nintendo can keep ownership of the IPs you so dearly love like Mario, Pokemon, Zelda, Kirby and Smash they have to go after people who make games with IPs that they do not own so that nothing can threaten to take them from Nintendo later on.
It's not that they hate fan games because I know they love and support creativity, but maybe make your own character and world when you do that and have it inspired by Mario instead of ripping off Mario and Nintendo won't have to shut down your game due to legal obligation and protection.
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That said, I really feel a Direct is coming. I hope it's an hour-long Direct man. Even hour and a half. Just hit us with everything at once Nintendo, blow my socks off man!