One cycle that seems to be never-ending with Nintendo is the ongoing battle with copyright infringement. Fans do a fan project, it gets popular, Nintendo orders it taken down. The latest example of this has been the Breath Of The NES fan game, an 8-bit recreation of Breath Of The Wild’s demo from this year’s GDC. For a good while, you could download the game for yourself and try it out. That is now no longer the case, as Nintendo has issued a takedown of the game. However, according to the creator of the fan game, the project will continue with different characters. Below is the creator’s tweets and the takedown notice that Nintendo had issued to them, so feel free to check them out.
(1/2)I'm no longer legally able to distribute Breath of the NES. But any donations you made will be spent working on the game!
— winterdrake_ (@winterdrake_) April 30, 2017
(2/2) The game isn't dead, I just won't be using the Zelda characters. It will live on! 😀
— winterdrake_ (@winterdrake_) April 30, 2017
Dear Support Team,
We represent Nintendo of America Inc. (“Nintendo”) in intellectual property matters. Nintendo recently learned that content available at https://winterdrake.itch.io/breath-of-the-nes-zelda-fangame infringes copyrights owned by Nintendo. This notice is provided pursuant to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 17 USC § 512, and itch.io’s Terms of Service. We submitted a notice through itch.io’s web form yesterday, but the infringing content still appears.
This page linked above provides access to downloadable files that violate itch.io’s Terms of Service and infringe Nintendo’s copyrights in its The Legend of Zelda video game franchise, including but not limited to the audiovisual work, images, and fictional character depictions from the following: U.S. Copyright Reg. Nos. VA0001419268 (Link character); PA0000356140 (The Legend of Zelda); and PA0002028142 (The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild).
I have a good faith belief that this use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law. I hereby state that the information herein is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that I am authorized to act on Nintendo of America Inc.’s behalf.
We would appreciate your expeditious removal of all infringing content. Please contact me immediately with any questions.
This notice is not intended to and shall not waive or prejudice any rights and remedies that Nintendo may have at law, in equity, or otherwise. Any and all such rights and remedies are hereby expressly reserved.
Best regards,
Alicia Bell
Attorney for Nintendo of America Inc.
Just call it “Inhalation of the Legend”
That’s a name that won’t get taken down, I guess.
But I knew this was gonna happen, but it happened much more faster than I expected!
Zelba’s Legend: Wild Breath
Why is Nintendo so backwards when it comes to fan games? It’s baffling that SEGA allows the dozens of fan games of Sonic to stay up, yet Nintendo can’t keep up a single fan game that is done out of love of the IP, not profit. Nintendo needs to grow up from its old 1990’s stigma, and embrace the modern world. It would ultimately benefit gamers, and their business if they did so.
Not backwards. One company is just pursuing their legal right to take down copycats of their IP.
I think you’re being too one-sided on this. If someone make a game with Nintendo characters and sells it, Nintendo is fair to take it down. But when someone simply wants to show their appreciation for a series they love and create a game for free, it feels bad for Nintendo to basically betray their fans. Look at Bethesda, they want people to mod their games and create new stuff for fans to experience; they’re connected with their own community of gamers.
way to spin it dude,
“Betray their fans”
A+ spin.
this was profiting anyway
So say like I took your game and then made a “fan game” of it but at the same time profiting off of it through donations. Would you just sit back and watch as I’m making money off YOUR IP?
Sega doesn’t go after fans as most fans will just make Fan Sonic games for FREE, but this person was making a profit off of donations using Nintendo’s IP. So they have a right to take down the game as they please, and Sega has done stuff like this before as well, especially when it comes to the Alien Games. They’re very protective of the Alien License
But, as shown in the tweet above, he *was* making money on it, so it wasn’t a simple fan game that was available for free.
I’m pretty sure he’s aware of that, he’s just saying that Nintendo should embrace the work of fans rather than being so quick to destroying it. This Zelda fan game was profited though, so I can see why Nintendo would take action, but if it were a free DL then the first part should be applied. And I find it funny how Nintendo can licence/accept crappy indie games found in the eShop, but won’t even go near a fan’s work of art. Take that Metroid2 Remake and Mother (Earthbound) remake; Nintendo completely ignored the fans love. In the case of the Earthbound fan game, the fans offered Nintendo to publish the game free because there were no English variants at the time but Nintendo never accepted. We all know how ancient Nintendo’s thought process can be, like the whole Uptight YouTube policy thing, that’s why most of us think that they should get with the times.
Earthbound is a trickier situation because Nintendo does not completely own the rights to it.
The dude is profiting off of it. The tweets posted above suggest that people were giving him money.
Actually, if you tried to make fan games of any other Sega license like the Alien games, then they’d come down on you like a ton of bricks. Sega doesn’t mind people making games about Sonic because they need all the exposure for Sonic as they can get, don’t forget that Sonic’s games haven’t been doing so well and we’ve only seen like 2 good games and one decent game (Sonic Lost Worlds) released but then we got a bunch of horrible games like Sonic Boom and let’s not forget about the Sonic 4 games that everyone refuses to acknowledge it’s existences.
Fan games helps Sonic out because he’s not as popular as Mario.
Good thing I had nothing to do with this…
It wqs only a matter of time.
Nintendo: We’ll let nothing stand in the way of our 10/10 game. Happy Cheap Deaths!
Why can’t they just rename the game and use a slightly different character? Solved.
I think that’s exactly what they are planning to do.
Um, he actaully is doing that. And actually stated that he planned to do that (if Nintendo did what they now have done) back when he started.
Yeah, Because none of us saw this coming.
“so what happens to the copies we might have purchased?”
At the moment I read that I knew Nintendo did the right thing this time….
Yeah, even if Nintendo was a fan of fan games, that will do it every time.
Actually, I’m more interested now that it’s going to be a new ip and not a fan game.
Runiya, previously Legend Maker, started out as Zelda Maker. And I feel that it benefited from the change.
has anyone even asked why the usa copyright law is the idea when all nintendo is japanese based
All of Nintendo isn’t japanese based. I live about an hour away from Nintendo of America. Even if that didn’t exist though, that’s not how it works. Foreign companies can register trademarks with the U.S. just like anyone else.
Once the articles started coming out, it was obvious the end was nigh. I get that devs for fangames kind of hope for a following that can give them a little funding to take the load off, but keeping it away from social media and under wraps until end of development is crazy important nowadays with how easy word can spread online.
Bet they feel silly about not worrying about it not getting taken now.
When WILL people learn??? The funny thing is that they did not care about them taking down their project. But in all honesty and reality, when will people learn that this cycle keeps going until people stop doing shit like this? They are probably looking for popularity until Nintendo pulls the plug on their projects. Seriously, a lot of fucktards are being mad at Nintendo for what is THEIR property, NOT yours. Hope they will learn their lessons!!
The guy just used the name and characters to gain publicity for his game. Well, he got what he wanted, but I don’t approve of that tactic.
“so what happens to the copies we might have purchased?”
The fact that the guy making the game using Nintendo’s property, in this case, I fully support Nintendo’s decision to take the game down.
*Use Nintendo’s property to make money
When will people ever learn? People act like such airheads.
At this point I feel people use Nintendo IP knowing they will get publicity when Nintendo acts to protect its IP. I feel true Nintendo or IP fans should create games “inspired by” and not just try and rip it off..
who is surprised?
We all knew it would happen. Why do people keep trying?
||The imbecile only did it to get his 15 minutes of fame as you humans say, no other reason other than that, he will be destroyed further though…||
This was inevitable. Theft from The Order will not be tolerated.
The weapon test was succesfull. ->
If People just made their own ORIGINAL games – with their own IDEAS and ASSETS – nintendo wouldn’t have to waste time and money on all this nonsense.
So people who programme games are pretty clever . . . The Creators at Nintendo are pretty clever – and very hard working. . . go and use your own stuff to create games – not theirs. .
:)
…… why are people dumb?
Because they’re greedy, deaf to criticism, and refuse to let people have options and enjoy their games and IPs in their own way.
But when money is involved they(Nintendo) have every right to take action. I’m talking about the ones who know they are going to have their projects shut down but do it regardless….
They can enjoy their IPs in “their own way” if the “fans” make the game and play by themselves, without wanting “contributions” from other people, which infringe the law.
Nintendo IPs are not public domain to let people enjoy them in “their own way”. They have no rights to take a franchise and do whatever they want it.
Sorry are you being sarcastic? I usually support fan projects but do you really think we have a right to just take somebody else’s work/property without permission and do what we like with it? good to know next time I’ll take one of your creations without your permission and make some money from it but of course you’re all for that aren’t you :)
Um, who said anything about fans trying to profit?
“Um, who said anything about fans trying to profit?” Replying to that as for some reason there is no reply button to the comment so I have to reply like this, new site layout I guess.
Anyway I didn’t mean to be somewhat condescending there the point I was trying to make in this case as I was mainly referring to this individual is using somebody else’s IP without permission and excepting donations for it is wrong. IMHO if you’re going to use an IP for some sort of fan project you should ask permission first whether you’re making money from it or not, it’s kinda petty but yeah it’s the law and you can save yourself an awful lot of trouble that way.
However all of this said websites like this one reporting on such fan projects only make matters worse as they only draw more attention to it.
I’m sorry but in this case, I have to side with Nintendo. Judging from these Tweets, the creator was getting money from this without getting Nintendo’s Permission for using their content.
Non-Profit it still a very gray area in my book but this is straight up in the black.
I usually support fangames but not this time for obvious reasons. Making money from somebody else’s work or creation is simply unacceptable.
We live in a society with laws and regulations. Without these laws and regulations you’d have anarchy, and society would collapse. I’ll never understand the people (like Jim Sterling) who thinks it’s ok and even right to use other companies IP’s and profit from them. We should send Sterling and all his like minded cronies to an island out in the middle of the sea. There, they could rape, pillage, and steal other people’s property till their hearts content.
Nintendo might just be the only company treating their fans like thrash and still getting massive support.
IPs my friend, IPs.
Microsoft, Konami, Activision, EA, Bethesda, Blizzard, Rockstar, etc. don’t have Mario, Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, Kirby, or anyone else of the like.
“Fans”, the guy is already thinking about a multiplatform release for God’s sake. He already made the damn new sprites, do you really think he is a “fan”? He is just a rookie game developer that wants to start with easy 8-bits works making an easy money.
If the game was simply called Zelda & had no similarities to Breath of the Wild, or Legend of Zelda as a whole, this guy wouldn’t have had this issue. Nintendo doesn’t own the name Zelda by itself after all.