noname2200 said:
Those aren't many examples for a company with dozens of IP's that's been operating for decades, though. They generally seem to let most of the fan stuff through unmolested though: Project M is actually a good counterexample, seeing as how it's been around for almost half a decade and was clearly not C & D'd. The internet is also chock full of ROM hacks for Mario, Fire Emblem, Metroid, and just about every other popular Nintendo IP; they don't seem to bother shutting those down. Fan art and projects largely appear to be fair game too: I'm thinking of stuff like There Will Be Brawl and Brawl In The Family, which to my knowledge were left mostly if not entirely unmolested. Even translated ROMs of games that never got localized are left untouched: Earthbound Zero and Mother 3 jump immediately to mind, though there are plenty of others. Even most of the examples you cite are perfectly understandable: Mario 64 HD is a straight remake of one of their marquee titles, and you'll find few companies who let someone make a full movie for one of their IPs without their permission.* I can promise you that Sony would not look favorably on fans making a full scope Uncharted movie, and Microsoft will not allow Halo to proceed sans Microsoft. Your citation of Metroid is actually largely a counterexample, seeing as how that Chobot short is still up. The only part I do agree with is the Youtube program: that does seem petty and unnecessary, but I wouldn't point to it as something that negates what is largely a permissive attitude towards fan projects. Overall, for all its faults there really isn't much evidence that Nintendo polices its IP's all that vigorously, Youtube being the bizzare exception. They mostly seem to let things slide (and as of a year ago have officially granted permission to fan projects to use their IPs), and when they do send a C & D they largely seem to be warranted in doing so. I just can't agree that this in particular is one of their faults.
*Especially when Nintendo itself has been trying to make a feature film for Metroid for over a decade now. |
There are definitely more examples, but I only listed those off of the top of my head because it is late.
Looking at project M, they very clearly took action against it. For tournaments that requested the right to use smash bros U, they had to cease support for project M due to a request by Nintendo. They were basically killing project M's competitive scene (which is what made it thrive) and now project M is over.
Rom hacks exist for every single game out there. Nintendo doesn't, nor do I think they can, go after roms, because people are allowed to have a digital backup/copy of a game they own. This is why emulators are not illegal. Likewise, Nintendo does not go after all hacks and flash games because it would be a huge waste of time and money to do so. From a higher level though, they simply discourage this.
It would make sense to get rid of fan projects if you intend to actually utilize the ip, but if you simply let it sit there (such as with a metroid movie or an hd mario remake), sending cease and desist letters to fanmade projects this early is a very petty move.
We seem to agree on youtube so let's let that be
I am not saying that Nintendo has commited a crime. They are perfectly within their right to shut down all fan projects that involve their IP. But at the same time, people also have a right to criticize (or "hate") Nintendo for killing off passion projects that bear no immediate threat to Nintendo.
