SquareEnix kills Chrono Trigger Fangame at 98% completion

[Wolfrider31]

Didn't Rowling (or rather, her publishers) try to go against fanfic writers at one point?

I don't know about Rowling. I know Anne Rice has attempted to. It failed. Because... you know... it's stupid.

[Kitsune Sniper]

Yes, but we're talking about Anne Rice here. She's not exactly right up in there. :P

[Jorpho]

Didn't Rowling (or rather, her publishers) try to go against fanfic writers at one point?

She tried to block the in-paper publication of the Harry Potter Lexicon. But trying to stop fanfic writers from writing and posting fanfic would be like failing to come up with an apt analogy to complete this sentence.

[Kitsune Sniper]

She tried to block the in-paper publication of the Harry Potter Lexicon. But trying to stop fanfic writers from writing and posting fanfic would be like failing to come up with an apt analogy to complete this sentence.

Thanks for correcting me, I -knew- there was a lawsuit but wasn't sure about the details.

[XYXZYZ]

This thing reminds me of Tecmo suing Ninjahacker for the DOAXVB mods.

And here's a quote from the Chrono Trigger website forums-

On May 8, we received a wide-reaching cease and desist letter from Square Enix, Inc. As with Chrono Trigger: Resurrection and Chrono Trigger Remake Project's letters, we have uploaded the letter for viewing here as a matter of public interest.

So this is the third C&D letter these guys have received from Square?

[Nature Boy]

I just dont get why companies do this kind of shit. Its like Lucasarts going after a fan movie of Star Wars. This game was to honor and possibly generate sales for the company. I for one will just personally speak with my wallet and buy all square games used from now on. They lost a customer for this move.

You have to understand the whole "protecting their copyright" thing I think.

Obviously Mr. Homebrewer isn't going to put a dent into their pockets. But if they allow him to violate their copyright, they're *screwed* when someone else comes along, creates their own 'fan version' of Chrono Trigger and has the backing of, say, Atlus.

Atlus argues that Squenix didn't protect their copyright in the case of Mr. Homebrewer, so Squenix has therefore given up that right according to copyright law. Atlus wins, and goes on to make a *fortune* at Squenix's expense.

I can see someone then arguing "what would the odds be that an Atlus would *do* that though" and I'd have to reply "why would a Squenix *ever* put themselves at risk, even if it's minimal, with their IP?" Your IP is what makes your company unique - give that up and you're screwed.

[Vlcice]

Nature Boy, I think you might be confusing copyright and trademark laws. Trademark law does work like how you describe; companies are obliged to protect their trademarks to ensure that they're not diluted. Copyright law doesn't require a company to protect their copyrights in order to make challenges in the future.

[TonyTheTiger]

This is technically a trademark issue, too. So there's no denying that Square Enix had good reason to go after this project. In fact, it might be more of a trademark issue than a copyright issue given the facts.

[Vlcice]

True, I'd agree that the trademark is probably a big part of this. I was just pointing out that Nature Boy was talking about copyright specifically.

[TonyTheTiger]

I just don't understand the vitriol levied against Square here. A common theme appears to be the spin that this is the big evil corporation abusing the poor defenseless fan project. But the protections that Square Enix is seeking to enforce to defend their intellectual property are the exact same protections that the little guy gets to enforce when some big corporation tries to jack their shit. If the situation were reversed and this guy had created a brand new game and all of a sudden Square Enix started showing off their own game that was either strikingly similar or literally a pseudo-sequel/patch, I doubt anybody here would say that a cease and desist letter would be inappropriate regardless of how far in development Square's project was or whether or not they'd be giving it away for free.

[exit]

There's something that hasn't happened yet (from what I know of at least) that surprises me, there's a group out there that released a mod that updates some of the graphics on the PC version of Final Fantasy 7 and SE never sent them a C&D letter. You'd think that would be the first thing to get one since FF7 is their cash cow and they're not even close to milking it to death.

[NayusDante]

There's also things like the FF5 translation, retranslations of others, etc. They just seem to be doing this with CT.

[badinsults]

Despite all their denials, I still truly believe that this is all a hoax, and there never was a nearly complete hack of Chrono Trigger. I have seens some pretty prominent snes rom hackers pretty much say that they too think this is a bunch of bullshit. There have been many SquareEnix games that have undergone rom hacks (most notably the many fan translated games, including ones that have had commericial release), and Square hasn't given a crap. Some have tried to contact the lawyer that sent the C&D order, and all their emails bounced.

[Nature Boy]

Nature Boy, I think you might be confusing copyright and trademark laws.

That's likely because I am. Dammit Jim, I'm a programmer, not a lawyer!

[Nature Boy]

Despite all their denials, I still truly believe that this is all a hoax, and there never was a nearly complete hack of Chrono Trigger.

Wouldn't surprise me in the least. What better way is there to get out of actually having to show somebody something and not lose face?

I was thinking that when I asked about my "Team of Lawyers" question. The letter shows as having been signed by the Squenix Legal Team. Sure they may have altered the letter to hide the real names (like they did their own at the top), but I'd've figured they would have used the same black box treatment if that were the case. That part alone made the letter look fishy to me.

[Kitsune Sniper]

There's something that hasn't happened yet (from what I know of at least) that surprises me, there's a group out there that released a mod that updates some of the graphics on the PC version of Final Fantasy 7 and SE never sent them a C&D letter. You'd think that would be the first thing to get one since FF7 is their cash cow and they're not even close to milking it to death.

That patch was released -ages ago-, and I don't think Squeenix (or Square at the time) really bothered going after hackers in those days.

There's also things like the FF5 translation, retranslations of others, etc. They just seem to be doing this with CT.

The older retranslations are pretty old, and well, who would they go after? Many of those people have already moved on or aren't even doing this anymore.

[TonyTheTiger]

There's also things like the FF5 translation, retranslations of others, etc. They just seem to be doing this with CT.

Fan translations seem to get a pass. RPGOne's retranslation of FFVI was actually mentioned (albeit indirectly) in the GBA version of the game. One controversy surrounding the retranslation was that the translator, Sky Render, insisted on spelling Kefka's name as "Cefca" because of some random Japanese artbook or action figure or something that spelled it that way despite it being awkward in English. In FFVI GBA, one NPC had a line like "There's a cult out there that insists on spelling Kefka's name with Cs." So maybe Square Enix gives some deference to fan translations because it makes their job easier should they ever want to translate something. But I really can't be sure.

Or maybe Square Enix as a company didn't know about the retranslation but the translator did.

As for this being a hoax, maybe. But if it is then it sounds like a stupidly complex hoax. Stringing people along, making essentially fake videos...if somebody were willing to go through that much trouble they would likely just do the thing for real. I think the more likely scenario is that Square Enix picks and chooses where to send the C&D letters based on how "big" the project is. Chrono Trigger Resurrection was huge. And this one looked pretty nice, too. It just so happens that the biggest projects are CT projects so it appears CT gets treated differently just by coincidence.

[Jorpho]

I can think of at least two CT projects that have been shut down by C&Ds before - Chrono Trigger 64 and that other 3D one from a few years ago. (That was a C&D, wasn't it? I can't quite recall.)

[Matt-El]

It probably would have been more profitable had SE just paid the developers 150,000 for the game, put it on to a ds cart, and make that Jerry O'Connell money.

[kedawa]

They can backtrack the owner of the site by going after the host, and get the guy's billing info that way. And work their way up from there.

It's not as simple as "ZOMG RELEASE IT NOW".

It really is that simple, actually.
There's no need to even host the rom/patch on a website.
All you need to do is give the file to the right people and it'll make its way around the internet all on its own.