Fighting is Magic gets ordered to Cease and Desist from Hasbro
- Thread starter Darren716
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And if they do leak it, Hasbro has their numbers, so they will get their asses sued off.Entitled said:
Half the fun of being so obsessed about the show is seeing what other obsessed people make. I subscribe to the idea of re-skinning the game but I honestly don't believe it will actually happen. On a related note; I hope I can get my hands on Pony Kart before that goes down the drain.
EDIT* Here's hoping to a Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls fighting game.
EDIT* Here's hoping to a Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls fighting game.
They've started cracking down on EVERYTHING on the internet, including Youtube uploads, parody videos, this (non-profit, likely even fair-use) game, and a few other fan-related content. All within the past week or so.
It seems as if Hasbro is trying to ditch the "brony" association. That, or they're doing the same thing as Bethesda, "protecting" their copyright even in cases where they have no case whatsoever.
One forum post gave the best explanation I've seen so far, which is that Hasbro is likely being an investor right now. Yes, they've gotten increased sales and popularity, but all it takes is one incidence where Cupcakes or Sweet Apple Massacre or some other "fandom" work gets mainstream news coverage and their sales could plummet. They want to stick with what's safe: Little girls. Less money right now, but also a far less chance of something going horribly wrong. No adult fans, no online works that are not appropriate for kids, not even parodies.
That said, getting a reputation for being an asshole corporation could be just as damaging, and I hope Hasbro becomes the Hasnotbro for not even opening proper communications with Mane6.
I hope Mane6 continues to develop it behind closed doors, and then "accidentally" leaks it.
It seems as if Hasbro is trying to ditch the "brony" association. That, or they're doing the same thing as Bethesda, "protecting" their copyright even in cases where they have no case whatsoever.
One forum post gave the best explanation I've seen so far, which is that Hasbro is likely being an investor right now. Yes, they've gotten increased sales and popularity, but all it takes is one incidence where Cupcakes or Sweet Apple Massacre or some other "fandom" work gets mainstream news coverage and their sales could plummet. They want to stick with what's safe: Little girls. Less money right now, but also a far less chance of something going horribly wrong. No adult fans, no online works that are not appropriate for kids, not even parodies.
That said, getting a reputation for being an asshole corporation could be just as damaging, and I hope Hasbro becomes the Hasnotbro for not even opening proper communications with Mane6.
I hope Mane6 continues to develop it behind closed doors, and then "accidentally" leaks it.
Then again, this changes everything. Just use her OCs, name them some obvious parody like "Midnight Shine, CloudRacer, Jewels, YellowQuiet, Jumpie Cake, and Orange Cider," and otherwise leave everything the same. Bam.Soviet Heavy said:
And if Hasbro actually tries to arrest celebronies, there will be chain letter rumors spread that the pony toy meschandise has been treated with rat poison by terrorists.Soviet Heavy said:
If Hasbro has any sense, this is not a fight that they want to escalate.
And they won't care, because Bronies still are not their target demographic, nor are they the largest consumer base for the franchise. Hasbro is well within their rights to do this, and if the devs decide to go against them even after the C&D, they will suffer for it.Entitled said:
With a good writer, everything is possible.Soviet Heavy said:
It was established already Mane 6 are able to fight a whole army of Changelings very easy.
I think you overestimate the scope of the legal system.Soviet Heavy said:
All Mane6 has to do is go anonymous, and pretend that any build that is "accidentally leaked" was modified by someone else. Alternately, they can just pass it on to other unaffiliated people who WILL modify it themselves.
Hell, the build that was being made for EVO is already leaked online. Hasbro doesn't have a chance of stopping it, only of driving it underground.
http://www.mediafire.com/?co83btlycky73a6
Besides, what do they have to sue for? Hurt feelings? It's not as if Mane6 made any profits from this venture.
They can sue for copyright infringement. That's kinda the whole point.chadachada123 said:
And Bronies would lose any respect that people might have left for them, because that is probably one of the most petty threats that I've seen. What's worse is that the fanatics of the Brony group are not above this.Entitled said:
Write is out and then read it aloud: Game developer sued by Hasbro for copyright infringement, fans respond by starting rumor campaign to discredit company.
Hell, that's what Id do. Just take down the site and YouTube videos and such, then clean up what you've got already, make a beta build and release it from a proxy account somewhere as a "leaked beta build". I'm honestly not really surprised at the C&D, as a dev I would have planned for that and made some sort of plan B, letting all that work be wasted by not releasing anything at all would be a damn shame.chadachada123 said:
Exactly. And the cartoon franchise and the toyline would be discontinued after their target audience would become the favorite targets of rabid terrorists and perverts.Soviet Heavy said:
And just like you said, there ARE fanatics who are not above this.
Therefore it would be utterly moronic if Hasbro would choose to trigger them in the protection of their "copyright".
Hasbro isn't the one in the wrong here. If it comes down to a lawsuit, the only ones to blame are Mane6, and the community. Their toyline would not be discontinued, especially since the allegations you suggested would be disproved by one safety inspection. The only thing hurting the Bronies right now are themselves.Entitled said:
There is precedence for fan reactions and campaigns (see, Mass Effect 3 EC), and then there is pettiness because of copyright claims.
Or if they want to go extra safe, mix up the copyrighted character designs and other art with some shitty placeholders, relese it officially as "Fighgfhing is Maghdfhgik", and send the content side of the game to another brony to release it as a "mod" to "Fighgfhing is Maghdfhgik", called "Fighgfhing is Maghdfhgik : Colored Horse Edition".Mojo said:
I think that would work enough as a legal fiction. Hasbro would have to send a new C&D to the new guy for the "new mod", and by that time, the whole thing would be released in two halves.
Just remember that Hasbro only did this because they HAD to (kinda). The thing about IP law is that you only hold the rights to something as long as you protect it. If they let this go then future rip-offs could point to Hasbro's inaction here as evidence they don't care about the property and should therefore be considered public domain. So as much as they may not have minded the fan game, they had to either take legal action or buy up the game to retain their property rights. It would have been nice of them to do the latter, but there are many reasons why they wouldn't go that route.
This pisses me off. As an aspiring game developer myself it sickens me to see hard work wasted. Its a sad day when Hasbro is outdicking Games Workshop.
For those trying to make the fan-made Pokemon MMO connection; the gameplay of the Pokemon MMO used what looked almost identical to the actual gameplay from actual Pokemon titles while also using characters and Pokemon directly taken from the official Pokemon games. There's a good reason that Nintendo cease and desisted that project, the reasoning being that it was becoming dangerously close to resembling an official Pokemon game. On the other hand, this MLP fighting game resembled no official product from Hasbro and the MLP license, so it does make it a bit more tragic.
It really isn't any different. The Fighting is Magic game is taking characters and names from the show, as well as character designs, it's infringing on their copyright. Make Hasbro out to be the villain all you want, they are doing nothing wrong in this situation.
The C and D letter was inevitable but even if they couldn't legally have sent one in the early days of development they could have at least warned them and say that they would be forced to take legal action should it get far. At least then could the developers not waste their time.
Again, Hasbro and other lawyers need to wait until the product becomes a threat before they take action. 99% of fan made projects like this game fail in their infancy, and if the C&D comes too early, then the developers can get away with it because they can claim the final product will be a lot different (changing assets to cover their tracks). So Hasbro waits until it is undeniably an MLP product before they strike.SacremPyrobolum said: