Fan-made games are both beautiful…and complicated. Because if a fan makes a game of their own design, it’s totally fine. Quality or not, they did it, and people should appreciate that. However, if a fan tries to make a game based on a popular IP that’s NOT owned by them…well, rarely does it go well, especially when that IP is owned by Nintendo.
Thus is the case with just about every fan-made Pokemon game ever made. If the Big N catches wind of it? It’ll get a cease-and-desist order PDQ. I’m talking ASAP. Like RFN (right freaking now!) Get it? But, that doesn’t stop fans from trying to make these games. In this year alone, we’ve had Pokemon Uranium, which got over 1.5 million copies digitally released before shutting down because of Nintendo, and Pokemon Prism, which was shut down before it could release…or did it?
People across the web today realized that ROM versions of Pokemon Prism were being leaked. But not by the development team, but by fans who got it through one means or another. Kotaku got wind of this, and asked the group behind the leak why they did it, this was their response:
“Regardless of Nintendo’s legal rights, we do believe that they are destroying their fans’ hard work for no reason and at no gain,” they said. “Nintendo could have used this (and any other good ROM hack) as an opportunity to promote the Pokémon series in general. They don’t even have to do anything other than let the games live.”
So, it appears Pokemon Prism lives, at least for now. We’ll keep our eyes on this story and let you know if anything changes!
