Project M Ceases Development: v3.6 To Be Final Release

We report this news to you today with a heavy heart. As announced on the official Project M website, development for the game has been finished. Project M v3.6 will be the last release of Project M. Here is the official statement from the development team.

---​

Hello friends,

Six years ago, we started a journey born out of our shared love for competitive fighting games. Eventually, the electrifying passion that coursed through us arced out and drew in more people until our small circle of friends grew into a team, and that team grew into an international community. Project M and its community have grown larger than any of us ever anticipated, and it’s truly heartwarming to see all of the unforgettable connections and friendships that have been forged through this project.

Unfortunately, we’re here to say that we’re at the end of that road.

We’ve learned so much in the process of making Project M—accumulating life-changing lessons in communication, team work, professionalism, work ethic, and more—but there’s only so far we can take those skills in a volunteer project. With this in mind, we’ve made a difficult business decision: We’re ready to finish development here and move on to bigger and better ventures.

We realize that this will come as a shock to many of our fans. Please, forgive us. Again, it’s been an excruciating call to make, but it’s been made a bit easier by our satisfaction with the previous and final release, v3.6. We’ve spent six years polishing Project M, and rather than let it drag on through another several years of dwindling development and change-fatigue in the competitive circle, we’re going to consider our work complete.

In the mean time, we plan to be hard at work on new projects, built from the ground up. We can’t spill the beans just yet, but know that we’re looking towards a fresh start with brand new designs. Rather than splitting our focus, many of us want to dedicate ourselves to this new venture fully. In this way, we hope to maintain the level of quality and professionalism you’ve come to expect from us.

In summary, we are ceasing development of Project M (effective immediately) and will be making no further releases as we turn our attention towards an entirely new venture. As the PMDev team will be formally disbanded, please forward all official communications regarding Project M to video game attorney and business consultant Ryan Morrison. We appreciate your support and your understanding.

One final time,

PMDev

Thank you for playing!

---​

What does this mean for the future of Project M at tournaments? What exciting project could the Project M team be up to next? Let us know in the comments below and share your favorite memories from the game's various releases. From Demo 1.0 to v3.6 it has been an incredible ride and we at Smashboards wish the Project M Development Team the best of luck in all future adventures.

Writer's Note: Hey guys, SmashCapps here. I know this has some folks sad and shaken up but I wanted to make sure everyone knows that Project M no longer being updated was not because a cease and desist.

To clarify: We weren't contacted, issued a C&D, threatened or had legal action taken against us in any way, but we want it to stay that way.

— Ryan Morrison (@Morrison) December 2, 2015

Hope that clears things up! Thanks for reading as always everyone!

 

Project M lied to us about working on a PAL port. So I feel nothing about what happened. They burned the PAL fans of their Project M, so they deserve to be burnt in turn by Nintendo.

 

Nintendo Shuts Down Fan-Made Zelda Movie
Nintendo shuts down fan-made Pokemon MMO
Nintendo shuts down Super Mario 64 HD fan remake, surprising no one
Nintendo Hates You: Massive Takedowns Of YouTube Videos Featuring Mario Bros. Fan-Created Levels
VGBootCamp No Longer Streaming Smash Bros. Mod Project M Due To Its “Uncertain Legality”
PROJECT M EXPUNGED ALTOGETHER FROM APEX 2015, INCLUDING SALTY SUITE

I think it's pretty obvious Nintendo is behind this, and I'm not sure how much longer I can continue to support them if they are afraid of their own fans and abuse the legal system.

 

Their comment was taken down. They linked an image that's getting taken down left and right about the "truth" of it. There probably is some kernel of truth to the quote linked, but it's likely not from a legitimate source.

Ok, thanks, got confused.

 

But yes, I am intrigued by the Project Wavedash angle that people are bringing up. I just don't know much about that project to begin with. And well, I'm not a fan of conspiracy theories and cover-up stories.

In the meantime, I look forward to what the PMDT (aka "Wavedash Games") does in the future

Their comment was taken down. They linked an image that's getting taken down left and right about the "truth" of it. There probably is some kernel of truth to the quote linked, but it's likely not from a legitimate source.

The wavedash rumor is not true at all.

 

I know I'll be playing project m for a long time even though there won't be any more updates. It makes me very sad though that so much content (completed or not) will not see the light of day. I hope the team considers releasing their "archives" of un-finished/un-official content. I know the community would love to see what amazing work the PMDT has done behind the scenes!

Either way, thank you PMDT for everything you've done for the community. Not only have I (we) had endless hours of fun with P:M, but your work inspired and taught me enough to get my project ganondorf mod(s) off the ground.

I can't wait to see what you have in store for us in the future!

 

I don't see why they don't release all the stuff they had been working on like Lyn Issac and Knuckles. I'm particularly sad about Lyn because I was REALLY looking forward to her. Unless Nintendo threatened legal action there is literally no reason to not release the build that had her If Nintendo did threaten legal action, god, that would be the last straw.

 

lol i seriously hope that "Hope that clears things up!" comment at the end was sarcasm
But really though its dumb how they're trying to hide the real reason and being like "heheh nothing is up dont worry about it by the way redirect all complaints to our attorney we just have conveniently lying around" I dont hate them for this or anything, and Im sad to see this happen, but still, its shady.

Also this is just going to add more fuel to the fire for the "PM is dead"/"lol just a mod"/"cease and desist" ****posters

 

Well, G&W for forever top tier

no he can't kill peach or wario

Reasons that hint to this being a C&D:

• The quiet responses to those "punished" for using Project M
• The fact that the recent post has all questions directed to the lawyer
• The downloads to their site being removed
• The members of the team saying it isn't a C&D, but not going into detail
• No exact answer as to why this was closed
• The recent reveal of PM Art Tuesday two weeks ago shows the team was thriving with work, but something must have recently happened
• Legally restricted to say the actual reason of closing the game's development, or at least refuse to directly share what is going on behind the scenes

It'll be hard to move on from this magnificent piece of a game. I had so much great times with it, and it really helped me out with my skills crossing over to Melee. I hope that one day, Nintendo looks at this event as a grave mistake on their part. I literally bought three copies just to spread the word of Project M, and help support both my favorite company, and my favorite developers.

Today was a bad day. Best of luck to the team. They're so talented.

Some reasons why this could not only be a bad news:

- PMDT leaves when le mod is at it climax (especially with the melee-like smoothest engine in 3.6)
- The metagame will finally take the full place with the interruption of updates, now is up to the players.
- Less Nintendo agressivity against the mod, if pm has more succes, there wouldn't be any dev team to blame and the fans/players are untouchable

 

And we still didn't get PM here in Europe. ( I was doubting it anyway )
Oh well, looks like i'm forced to get it some certain other way now...If those are still possible.

 

Nintendo Shuts Down Fan-Made Zelda Movie
Nintendo shuts down fan-made Pokemon MMO
Nintendo shuts down Super Mario 64 HD fan remake, surprising no one
Nintendo Hates You: Massive Takedowns Of YouTube Videos Featuring Mario Bros. Fan-Created Levels
VGBootCamp No Longer Streaming Smash Bros. Mod Project M Due To Its “Uncertain Legality”
PROJECT M EXPUNGED ALTOGETHER FROM APEX 2015, INCLUDING SALTY SUITE

I think it's pretty obvious Nintendo is behind this, and I'm not sure how much longer I can continue to support them if they are afraid of their own fans and abuse the legal system.

You can argue the LP angle, but it really shouldn't be a shock when any company pulls out the C&D for someone trying to put up an emulator of their game with a texture mod on the mobile marketplace, uses their IP wholesale for an unauthorized MMO, or films an entire film using their IP and releases it to theaters.

Fair use is often a fuzzy area, but none of those three even come close to qualifying. At least Project M was skirting the edge a bit by merit of being a Mod that no one ever attempted to put on an actual marketplace. You actually had to own a Nintendo product for that one AT LEAST, and due to the fact that you needed to patch it into the game, it at least couldn't be mistaken easily for an official product.

 

Unless more information comes out, I have no issue believing that they are ramping up on projects they can actually sell. Then again, removing all the download links without forewarning makes it a bit weird.

I wouldn't worry about availability. If people need to download Project M, there will be ways to get it. It's a sad day for Project M fans, for sure.

 

You can argue the LP angle, but it really shouldn't be a shock when any company pulls out the C&D for someone trying to put up an emulator of their game with a texture mod on the mobile marketplace, uses their IP wholesale for an unauthorized MMO, or films an entire film using their IP and releases it to theaters.

Fair use is often a fuzzy area, but none of those three even come close to qualifying. At least Project M was skirting the edge a bit by merit of being a Mod that no one ever attempted to put on an actual marketplace. You actually had to own a Nintendo product for that one AT LEAST, and due to the fact that you needed to patch it into the game, it at least couldn't be mistaken easily for an official product.

That's the thing, though. Fan-games don't hurt anything and only support the business and more often than not they are like non profit and don't gain anything. It ends up costing them time and money to make this labor of love.

Even the fan made Zelda movie didn't make profit or anything. If it's free, what is the issue? If it's a modification or a fan's view, why is that wrong? The legal system regarding digital media is honestly ridiculous at the moment and very outdated and needs a clear revision.

I love how SEGA actually embraces the modding the fans do. They never thwart their fans projects and just let them exist because, guess what, it keeps people interested in the product of the company.

And that timing they decided to "pull" those videos was right before Mario Maker came out. It had nothing to do with emulation, that was really just their scapegoat as Nintendo tends to usually uses excellent PR and calculation to target something when it comes to fan created content.

None of this stuff harms Nintendo.

 

Game and Watch Broken Forever

But seriously, thank you PMBR for making this mod and polishing it with all you can! I remember spending hours just beating up Lv. 9 CPUs back in 3.0, and it was so much fun! The times when I mained bowser and how I was a threat, aw such good TIMES! Once again, thank you!

 

Well, it was fun while it lasted. At least there is still PM modding (and im part of that, so, no bias), so, people could possibly make their own fixes for things like Link's grab, G&W, Bowser's Side B down throw near the ledge, etc. and you still can safely play the game.
But nobody is going to convince be that Nintendo had nothing to do with this.
"We're working on PAL release! Just be patient."
"4.0 will be the final gold version!"
"Look at this Jigglypuff with headband!"
"Look at our improved Awakening Roy alt!"
"Look at our improved ZSS model!"
"Lol bye none of this will be released and download links are shut down. Have questions? Go to our random lawyer we hired for absolutely no reasons. Still asking us? Lol totally not C&D, Nintendo is good."

 

As saddening and disappointing it is, I know for a fact that PM was C&D'd a week or two ago, and are only coming out about this now. They have not verified what company did this, be it Nintendo or another company involved with Brawl's developement (Game Freak, Sega, Konami, etc.)

They were?

Interesting.

Both Ryan Morrison (Attorney) and Warchamp have both said its not a C&D, so I wonder what's happening with this?...

 

Its hard to say good to the team, playing PM really helped me out in both Melee and SSB Wii U

 

Omni put up a poll for Twitter if he should do a vlog video regarding Project M. Hoo boy.

 

Not very surprising there. It was bound to happen eventually.

 

It's obviously a December Fools joke! This was posted on the first of December!

 

I still can't shake the feeling that Ninty's behind this with some kind of Non-Disclosure Agreement...

If we got
1: One more balanced patch without any new mechanics or moves being added alongside it (AND FIXING BUGS LIKE LINK'S GRAB, GODDAMMIT)
2: Headband Jiggs and Awakening Roy
3: PAL SUPPORT
The game would've had a perfect sendoff. Seriously, what would have been wrong? Now, we just have a bitter taste in our mouths and the obligation to fight for something we can only hope died for a worthy cause...

 

Even though this is bad news, do you think they will release the unfinished projects and source code to it's fan base? If they were C&D or tired with it, they should release their secrets because no more updates, people still want to add character slots, finish the awakening Roy and samus...all that hype for nothing,

 

Wow, I wanted PM to sorta die out eventually so everyone can finally move on to Smash 4 but not like this to be straight up honest. And I agree with the majority regarding the lies about our never-to-be PAL release, had to use a homebrewed wii and a NTSC disc to play the mod.

But as others said, had to happen eventually.

 

RIP Project M
As a player, this saddens me, and considering all the work done by the developers since last release, it's upsetting that they won't be able to release the real final version. But of course, there is a lot of interests in and we all knew that from the beginning.
Nintendo definitely has something to do, and now I feel ashamed. They sometimes don't deserve their customers and fanbase.

Thanks PMDT, you're awesome.

 

R.I.P Project M thank you for the memories

 

This is sad. And obviously Nintendo.

 

This is more depressing than Iwata's death tbh for me...for something that was a huge part of my life just to be sucked away into nothingness by an arbitrary reason that we're just left in the dark with...

Thank you PMDT, for crafting such a beautiful game that deserves millions of sales more than any other Smash game combined...

 

Instead of being pansies about it, guys (not PMDT, but anyone else), you know other people can take over development of Project M by any potential. Someone could even modify the mod on their own, slap a good amount of fixes to characters and new things and continue where the dev team left off.

...anyone feeling like the dev team should give us the coding for the entire game? It'd be rather nice for any games that could be spiritual successors to it.

 

Thank you guys for everything. All the joy and excitement I've had from PM with my friends has been amazing. Good luck with your future plans!

 

Considering how Smash 4 and the current generation have sort of been competing for awhile, nevermind all the concerns for legal issues if they stepped out of line, I can certainly understand how people would be very quick to be suspcious, LiteralGrill .

on the other hand, it would have been nice if they could at the very least do one final release as a sendoff for the players, it would feel complete for them, allow any last hidden issues to be ironed out, and players wouldn't feel so robbed. taking down the download links for the public also raises suspicion.

I am, however, extremely disappointed how PAL version players are effectively screwed in the process, they promised since 3.5 that PAL version would be coming soon, and they didn't deliver. if they haven't been swarmed by posts calling them out for it already, I'll be surprised.

 

RIP PM, only just started getting into it me and my friends cant stop playing it, PM lives on!! I look forward to the new project though! :D

 

And they never released my Lyn =' (
This was a bit of shocking.... good luck, PMDT veterans.

 

R.I.P Project M, R.I.P, you were my favorite...

 

(Sigh)
Looks like people are gonna be flocking back to Melee now...

 

(Sigh)
Looks like people are gonna be flocking back to Melee now...

Development stopping doesn't means its 100% kill. In fact, its better for competetive scene since there will be no more updates, so, meta can evolve freely.

 

Thank You PMDev, for all your efforts.

 

View attachment 85746
Omni put up a poll for Twitter if he should do a vlog video regarding Project M. Hoo boy.

Okay, Omni's stopped low before, but this is just gravedancing.

 

We report this news to you today with a heavy heart. As announced on the official Project M website, development for the game has been finished. Project M v3.6 will be the last release of Project M. Here is the official statement from the development team.

---​

Hello friends,

Six years ago, we started a journey born out of our shared love for competitive fighting games. Eventually, the electrifying passion that coursed through us arced out and drew in more people until our small circle of friends grew into a team, and that team grew into an international community. Project M and its community have grown larger than any of us ever anticipated, and it’s truly heartwarming to see all of the unforgettable connections and friendships that have been forged through this project.

Unfortunately, we’re here to say that we’re at the end of that road.

We’ve learned so much in the process of making Project M—accumulating life-changing lessons in communication, team work, professionalism, work ethic, and more—but there’s only so far we can take those skills in a volunteer project. With this in mind, we’ve made a difficult business decision: We’re ready to finish development here and move on to bigger and better ventures.

We realize that this will come as a shock to many of our fans. Please, forgive us. Again, it’s been an excruciating call to make, but it’s been made a bit easier by our satisfaction with the previous and final release, v3.6. We’ve spent six years polishing Project M, and rather than let it drag on through another several years of dwindling development and change-fatigue in the competitive circle, we’re going to consider our work complete.

In the mean time, we plan to be hard at work on new projects, built from the ground up. We can’t spill the beans just yet, but know that we’re looking towards a fresh start with brand new designs. Rather than splitting our focus, many of us want to dedicate ourselves to this new venture fully. In this way, we hope to maintain the level of quality and professionalism you’ve come to expect from us.

In summary, we are ceasing development of Project M (effective immediately) and will be making no further releases as we turn our attention towards an entirely new venture. As the PMDev team will be formally disbanded, please forward all official communications regarding Project M to video game attorney and business consultant Ryan Morrison. We appreciate your support and your understanding.

One final time,

PMDev

Thank you for playing!

---​

What does this mean for the future of Project M at tournaments? What exciting project could the Project M team be up to next? Let us know in the comments below and share your favorite memories from the game's various releases. From Demo 1.0 to v3.6 it has been an incredible ride and we at Smashboards wish the Project M Development Team the best of luck in all future adventures.

Writer's Note: Hey guys, SmashCapps here. I know this has some folks sad and shaken up but I wanted to make sure everyone knows that Project M no longer being updated was not because a cease and desist.

To clarify: We weren't contacted, issued a C&D, threatened or had legal action taken against us in any way, but we want it to stay that way.

— Ryan Morrison (@Morrison) December 2, 2015

Hope that clears things up! Thanks for reading as always everyone!

what am i going to do now then?? i recently got a problem with my project m folder for homebrew and planned in downloading it all again so that i could get it to work again but apparently now i cant download it? it only appears the message that the development team posted on the page. what am i going to do now??? or are they just going to post the new version after some time? (3.6)

 

Project Brawl is coming !
Yes , we can.

 

The GimZ Always WinZ

 

You know what else pisses me off? Nintendo was getting money from this! People would buy brawl just for Project M so it's not like this project was interfering with sales, it was boosting them!