- Jan 14, 2018
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Again, not a lawyer, but art is a whole different can of worms:
Now, this is mainly just me theorizing here, but I think the other projects were only hit after full release because Nintendo didn't want to actually suppress those games, just do the legal low-effort due diligence. While it is their territory, I think you'd be hard pressed to say that they lost any significant profit over them. And I reckon they hit after release because they weren't doing anything to particularly spoil Ninty's generally "family"-friendly image. A good fan-made game is still kinda good advertising (unless you made a shit game and they're doing it to show you up, anyway).
BHS is very much an adult game, and has rape in it. This is something they would want to suppress because it spoils their image. It was also arguably being "sold," with regards to having a patreon for it - IIRC the other projects weren't monetized, and that might be why they're suing here, beyond wanting to discourage other 18+ games**. I also don't think it qualifies as a parody either, as it doesn't really parody anything. It's just straight-up a Metroid game they didn't authorize. Again, hindsight, but they really should have filed the serial numbers off and slapped a new coat of paint on the story. Still sucks that it's gone but not too surprising.
*I think the idea behind that is so that you can't just wait for someone to make a successful thing with your IP, put in a ton of work, then sue them for it when they've got a bunch of cash. You either stop them, agree something beforehand, or let anyone have it.
**I also reckon this is why Pokémon Ecchi version is actually still around despite being 18+ - no Patreon afaik. And they probably do want to take down 18+ art of their games because of their desire to maintain their image, but all of the above gets in the way. Basically, don't worry about art getting taken down until Shadman gets hit with anything.
- Legally, art (as in drawings and pictures, anyway) is better protected. At least, if you're not straight plagiarizing - and even then, hitting plagiarizers can be hard because of the legal protections art gets.
- Even if art wasn't legally protected, there's so much that hitting them with takedowns just isn't feasible.
- Even if it was made feasible, hitting fan art (even 18+ stuff) could cause serious negative press, and probably a deluge more art in the process.
- Even if there was no chance of backlash, art isn't what they sell.
Now, this is mainly just me theorizing here, but I think the other projects were only hit after full release because Nintendo didn't want to actually suppress those games, just do the legal low-effort due diligence. While it is their territory, I think you'd be hard pressed to say that they lost any significant profit over them. And I reckon they hit after release because they weren't doing anything to particularly spoil Ninty's generally "family"-friendly image. A good fan-made game is still kinda good advertising (unless you made a shit game and they're doing it to show you up, anyway).
BHS is very much an adult game, and has rape in it. This is something they would want to suppress because it spoils their image. It was also arguably being "sold," with regards to having a patreon for it - IIRC the other projects weren't monetized, and that might be why they're suing here, beyond wanting to discourage other 18+ games**. I also don't think it qualifies as a parody either, as it doesn't really parody anything. It's just straight-up a Metroid game they didn't authorize. Again, hindsight, but they really should have filed the serial numbers off and slapped a new coat of paint on the story. Still sucks that it's gone but not too surprising.
*I think the idea behind that is so that you can't just wait for someone to make a successful thing with your IP, put in a ton of work, then sue them for it when they've got a bunch of cash. You either stop them, agree something beforehand, or let anyone have it.
**I also reckon this is why Pokémon Ecchi version is actually still around despite being 18+ - no Patreon afaik. And they probably do want to take down 18+ art of their games because of their desire to maintain their image, but all of the above gets in the way. Basically, don't worry about art getting taken down until Shadman gets hit with anything.
