Nintendo lawyers have been quite busy this year shutting down fan-made projects, and now they’ve struck yet again at another long-running fan game.
The game, Pokemon Prism, has been cancelled and effectively shut down, following a notice sent to the creator via Nintendo.
“Pokemon Prism has been cancelled,” wrote Adam ‘Koolboyman’, the sole developer on the project in a Facebook post. “Thank you all for your support throughout the years. I’m sorry it ended like this. I will make a longer statement regarding this soon, but expect this page to be shutdown in a few days.”
The game was in development for roughly eight years and nearly days before its final official launch, on December 25th. Featured above, you can view a trailer showcasing what the fan-made game was bringing to the table.
Published with the announcement was a document that is allegedly from Nintendo’s Australian legal team. The note points out both Pokémon Prism and Pokémon Brown as violating Nintendo’s intellectual property rights, setting forth a demand that Adam “immediately cease any further work on this game.”
“Nintendo understands that you are a fan of its original products and its Pokémon franchise,” the letter reads. “Whilst this is appreciated, it unfortunately does not alter Nintendo’s important role to ensure that all of its valuable intellectual property is fully protected and that there is no use made of any of its intellectual property rights without proper supervision and authorisation.”
In order to avoid legal trouble, Adam has to not only cancel Pokémon Prism, he’s also being ordered to remove all downloads from his website, as expected. The website now displays a link to the legal notice, and a short thank you to his fans.