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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Why is Nintendo the only one singled out with shutting down fan games?

Jumpin said:
It is basically brand suicide to allow others to use your intellectual property. Not just from a perception angle, but from a legal angle.

Legally, if you don’t defend your trademarks from unlicensed usage, you lose them. Nintendo probably has FAR higher licensing standards than Sega and product goals; Nintendo is not going to hand it out to some random fan the way Sega would (assuming this is true) for free. Especially since Nintendo has extensive liscensing deals with their characters to other companies who must adhere to their standards.

I am sorry, but people who are defending unpermitted use of someone else’s trademarks and intellectual property are profoundly ignorant. I don’t mean that as an insult, I mean that as a statement of fact: get out there and educate yourself on trademark law, fair usage, and licensing practices. These laws exist NOT to be oppressive, but so that content creators and their business partners can actually own their intellectual property. It would be dumb if Microsoft or Apple were allowed to go out and make Zelda, Final Fantasy, and Mario games without Nintendo’s authorization: how is it that people can’t see that?

There are possibilities to allow for fan productions while avoiding legal trouble and avoiding your competitors getting on your turf. You just need to clarify rules in a legal way. See Star Trek as an example: https://intl.startrek.com/fan-films



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Nintendo are able to get money, and hype, when they sell more than 30 year old games (Mario Maker with NES & SNES graphics - Nintendo Online with original NES & SNES games).
Why would they not protect such a worthfull IP?



It’s so much more common with Nintendo, albeit because Nintendo’s are extremely popular and therefor much more ripe for it.

It is interesting to wonder why we really haven’t seen many, if any at all, fan projects for Sony’s games. Too graphically heavy to bother, maybe?



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DialgaMarine said:
It’s so much more common with Nintendo, albeit because Nintendo’s are extremely popular and therefor much more ripe for it.

It is interesting to wonder why we really haven’t seen many, if any at all, fan projects for Sony’s games. Too graphically heavy to bother, maybe?

I dunno, Black Mesa, Skyblivion and Skywind seem quite graphically heavy undertakings. There are Sony IPs from the same time, which could've gotten the same treatment. For instance people were very happy about the announcement of the MediEvil remaster, but I am not aware anyone tried that as a fan project.

Maybe Sony-fans are not that adventurous or something. I don't know.



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10 years greatest game event!

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OP reply his own question and then fight who comments.

If you say Nintendo games pops up 10x more than any other company and then Nintendo shut down 10x more often, of course it will be the most remembered one.



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."

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pokoko said:
TheMisterManGuy said:

Nintendo has a history of CnD'ing publicly distributed Fan Games. Being protective of their IP, any unofficial game that's using pre-existing assets available for downloading or torrenting will likely be taken down. Yeah it sucks, but my question is, why is it only Nintendo getting singled out? This is actually standard with most companies. It's not just Nintendo, the vast majority of game companies take legal action against unofficial fan games. Microsoft for example, shut down a Halo Multiplayer fan-game based on the classic style. Square Enix has shut down quite a few Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy fan projects. The only notable exception to this, is Sega with Sonic the Hedgehog. But that's only because Sonic Team is so incompetent with the series, that Sega is willing to make an exception for it. So this isn't a Nintendo only problem, it's an industry-wide problem. Video Game Fan works just haven't been recognized as a viable hobby yet, so until some agreements or laws change, companies can and will take legal action. Like I said, it sucks, but it is what it is.

Honestly, there isn't enough substance in the OP for me to comment, as I'm not familiar with what Nintendo has or has not shut down. However, I do know that Sonic isn't the only notable exception.  Valve, Capcom, and Bethesda, for instance, have allowed some very ambitious projects to continue.  Not everyone shuts down projects automatically.

Mugen comes to mind with plenty of Capcom fighters, some anime, SNK, etc. They are still around.



duduspace11 "Well, since we are estimating costs, Pokemon Red/Blue did cost Nintendo about $50m to make back in 1996"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=8808363

Mr Puggsly: "Hehe, I said good profit. You said big profit. Frankly, not losing money is what I meant by good. Don't get hung up on semantics"

http://gamrconnect.vgchartz.com/post.php?id=9008994

Azzanation: "PS5 wouldn't sold out at launch without scalpers."