Square Enix Shuts Down Fan Game Effort
from the shut-down-the-fans-and-they-may-shut-you-down dept
A bunch of folks have been sending in various versions of the story that video game maker Square Enix has forced a fan mod community to shut down a years-long project to create a mod called Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes based on the Chrono Trigger world. The game was set to be released at the end of the month before the legal nastygram forced the volunteer fan group to shut down.It's difficult to fathom how this could possibly make sense. These were fans who were playing up how much they loved the original game universe, and wanted so badly to help spread that, that they spent years developing additional game action, only to have it totally shut down. In an era when treating your fans badly has been shown to backfire badly (especially in the video game world), you would think that Square Enix would have thought twice before sending a legal nastygram threatening huge legal fines.
Once again, this seems like a case where people sent a legal nastygram because they could, not because it was a smart business idea.
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: chrono trigger, fans, mods, video games
Companies: square enix
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
maybe not entirely dead
Considering that Square/Enix must have known about this product for awhile, it seems odd that they would wait until it is about to be released to send the nastygram. Makes me wonder if it isn't some sort of tool to force them to hand over the rights to the project or to sell it for much less than what it is worth or what it would have cost them to develop it in house and then Square gets the product for little or no cost to them which they then turn around and finish what little remains and publish it for a massive ROI.
I'm not clear on exactly what US copyright law has to say about derivative works, unfortunately.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: maybe not entirely dead
Enix doesn't have a great reputation from what I recall.
I'm not clear on exactly what US copyright law has to say about derivative works, unfortunately.
No one does.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: maybe not entirely dead
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: maybe not entirely dead
I can only speak for myself, but if I was on that team, and Square pulled that card out, I wouldn't turn over jack.
"Oops, hard drive failure. Sorry, all the code files are gone."
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: maybe not entirely dead
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: maybe not entirely dead
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: maybe not entirely dead
all too often big companies will take advantage of groups of fans that will spend time to create a different take on the original game - and use legal force to shut it down - because they can, they wont get persecuted, and because they take advantage of the profit from stealing someone else's work and spend less than it costs to buy a car as opposed to the group that likely spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on the project. the big people are corrupted like that. its a shame the people with the political power cant have a single IQ point. they're all twits.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Were they using original content?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Were they using original content?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Were they using original content?
The hack itself would not have been distributed with the ROM itself (to avoid actual, major legal ramifications), in much the same way that the Mother 3 fan translation is distributed.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Were they using original content?
Now, why is Square shutting this down? It isn't like they've had a Chrono game since Chrono Cross. Not like Secret of Mana where they released a new one only a little while ago.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Were they using original content?
And while Square Enix hasn't made a new Chrono game in a while, they did just recently rerelease Chrono Trigger on the DS.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Were they using original content?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: Re: Re: Were they using original content?
I actually meant a new game, but you are absolutely correct with the re-re-release on the DS. I completely forgot, I have it on the PSX.
I think my opinion has been changed. This was a legal move, if not smart.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Go read the Constitution and shut up. I'm not saying it has anything to do with this case, but it might do you some good.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Do it anyway...
I think the best thing to do tho is to just not release it, just like they ask. That way the company doesn't get the benifit of the new customers that would have been interested just because of this MOD.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I would not be surprise if Square Enix either:
1. Forced the fan project group to hand over their work via lawsuit threats and make their own game with it.
2. Destroyed all code, notes, etc... associated with the project then make their own official sequel. (with some hyped up "back by popular demand" marketing).
3. Decides that they would rather let the Chrono Trigger franchise (for lack of a better) die than do something with it so they destroy the fan project.
If SE were smart they would hire the project team and make the game an actual sequel. Such a move would build street cred (imagine the praise from fans and gamers over a company that "gets it"), put a good amount of money in SE's pocket (since most of the grunt work has already been done), and possibly get a few new permanent employees out of it. Hell even such a move only produced this one game with that project team I think SE would still profit from it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Because Squenix can't make games by themselves?
Squenix has their own issues at times, but really, would hiring a bunch of fan fiction writers really improve their product lineup?
Egads man, think.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
Because Squenix can't make games by themselves?
So hiring someone else automatically means you can't make your own games? Does this mean that the big time developers should quit buying small companies becasause "they can make their own games"?
Squenix has their own issues at times, but really, would hiring a bunch of fan fiction writers really improve their product lineup?
Well considering that you don't need a degree in language arts to be considered a good writer there is the possibility that it just might improve their lineup.
Your reasoning seems to be that since SquareEnix is a large company they are better than this small fan project team in every way and therefore anything they make will be better than what a fan project team can do meaning they should not waste their time on projects like this. Congratulations on dashing the hopes of small time developers, people who are trying to get in the industry anyway they can, and people who just want to make a game as a hobby.
And ditto what TDR said. I'm sure we've all seen more than enough examples to prove that big budget does not equal quality content.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
This should have been a source mod
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Oh, a DS port, whoo... Exciting, yes, a little, but it's not furthering the series any. From the looks of this, it WOULD have been exciting and new.
Bad form Square Enix.... Bad form.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
These fans really should have asked for permission first, and by agreeing that this was completely going to be non-profit now, and in the future.
That's what the makers of the new LOTR fan film did, and it's a great idea.
And you may argue that a fan-created game is a great idea, and should not be under threats by lawsuits, since it's all non-profit anyway, I'm sure Square Enix still wants control over the characters actions, the world they exist in, etc. It's their creation, and non-profit or not, I wouldn't like it if a group were to play around with MY creation and release it. It's SE's characters, and those characters exist in an SE world.
Besides, what if this fan-created mod interferes with the flow of the story that Square Enix has planned for that series? SE did release a new Chrono game recently.
If these fans were so passionate about this RPG, they should at least respect the makers of the game and ask for permission to add to the game.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hahaha
Awesome. Pure awesome.
Question: Does Square even realize that they kinda represent Shinra in terms of corporate evilness?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Hahaha
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Copyright Rules?
Simply put, if they don't defend their IP in this manner, the IP copyrights are voided, and they lose it completely.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Copyright Rules?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Copyright Rules?
Ok, but does copyright law also mandate that they defend their IP via these nastygrams? Why can't you "defend" their IP by slapping these creators on the back, saying that they did such an awesome job that you want to officially back their efforts by endorsing the project, and putting your logo on their work as a sign of "approval". There, now their efforts are "authorized" by the original creators, so you no longer need to worry about losing the IP rights, correct?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Copyright Rules?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Bloodsuckers don't think that way
I've tryed to get "offical" rights to do wierd junk like this before, Basicly geting to the person who can say yes is almost impossable, but you can find people who say no at every level of the company.
This is the same reason old classic games like Master of Magic, Moo2, X-Com, etc. dont get remade with better graphics and less bugs and why Supreem Commander is a "sperical successor".
Sadly the best way to do a project like this is to do it anomously, have no address, identifable person and fake whois information. Connect via proxy to your offical website and simply ignore CnD letters. Bonus points if you can be based out of a country with differnt laws on IP as well.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What matters, this original content?
I wonder this because there does not seem to be legal ground to say that I cannot take something I own (and I do own the original cartridge for this game) and do whatever I want to its contents. Fanediting is getting bigger by the day, and there does not seem to be legal precedent to stop people from editing the video data on DVDs. So what makes game ROMs special?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Is that true? Probably not. Does the group of fans at chronocompendium want to risk it? Not at all.
Personally, if the romhack was distributed as a patch, without the original rom, I don't see how it would be illegal; but if it was me, I'd cave too.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
If it is something an individual can do in their own time to their own property, it is Not Infringement. The patchfile just makes individuals not have to go through so much work for the same end. It in and of itself violates no law.
Unless someone accepts this challenge and explains how the patch is illegal.
Also, if this DMCA request is indeed bogus, doesn't that open SE to legal action?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What SE needs to do
It will build a community, without any risk to SE of losing control of their product. I believe that George Lucas does something similar with Star Wars fan-films.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
It is our current intellectual property system that gets in the way of innovation. People are willing to put the effort into doing research and creating software and such without intellectual property. This is a good example of that. The same is true for medicine. Intellectual property gets in the way of that.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
http://www.torrentreactor.to/torrents/view_1891613/Chrono_Trigger_Crimson_Echoes.html
[ link to this | view in chronology ]