Square-Enix squashes another another fan project.

[Squall Leonhart]

From ROM Hacking:

The Chrono Trigger romhack project “Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes” and “all other Square-Enix-related ROM hacks” has apparently received a Cease & Desist, as suggested by both the latest newspost found on the Chrono Compendium and at the project’s official website.

The following is what was recently posted on the frontpage of the Chrono Compendium:

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.

We have decided to comply with Square Enix’s demands. Most of the Chrono Compendium webpages and forums will be unaffected by these changes. However, our compliance has the practical effect of ending the Compendium’s support for ROM modification projects of any kind, with regard to copyrighted Square Enix works such as Chrono Trigger, Radical Dreamers, and Chrono Cross. We have already destroyed all known copies of Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes and other modifications and projects. We have also shut down and made inaccessible any discussion boards used for the development of ROM-hacking fan projects on this website, including:

* * Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes
* * Chrono Trigger: Prophet’s Guile
* * Retranslation of Chrono Trigger
* * Chrono Trigger Re-amped
* * Chrono Trigger Rebirth
* * Chrono Trigger Azala Style

The official Crimson Echoes website website was updated and now only shows the following:

Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes was a fan project modification of the Chrono Trigger ROM begun in late 2004. Development continue thanks to a dedicated group of fans through 2009. By May 2009, the game featured ~35 hours of game play, 10 multiple endings, and 23 chapters, much like the original Chrono Trigger; it was around 98% complete. The plot featured the original cast as they struggled against a new villain risen from the legacy of Zeal.

The team planned to release Crimson Echoes on May 31, 2009 as the first feature-length fan Chrono series game, and an unprecedentedly exhaustive work in the ROM modification community. On May 8, 2009, Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes received a cease & desist letter, along with all other game modification activity (even research) at the Chrono Compendium. In compliance with the letter, the development team ceased development on the game, and existing modifications (including Prophet’s Guile) were taken down.

We thank those fans who followed the game’s development, and also those who poured countless hours into the vision of a fun, new Chrono game, made by fans for fans without copyright claim or intent to make profit.

We understand the frustration. I sincerely hope this action is a sign that Square Enix cares about the franchise and intends to produce future titles, and not merely a shortsighted legal exercise that will further alienate a tired, neglected fan-base.

Signed ZeaLitY, Saturday May 9th, 2009

This would be the second time Square does this to a Chrono Trigger game. Last time, they did so just a few months before they announced the DS game, so the hopeful might suggest they could have something in the works, or the more business oriented might say they are "protecting" the DS remake's sales.

So, this might be redundant but... thoughts anyone?

[Regulus Tera]

that means they are going to resurrect the franchise and dont want people googling and finding the wrong thing

that must be it HAHAHAHAHA

[Julford Hajime]

*Has been on the Chrono Compendium site's discussion page all day*

Shitty news to wake up to, that's for sure. Even worse when you get a text from a friend telling you to check the site, and you go there thinking something good must've been posted.

The hack was 98% finished, which means it was more or less done minus some beta testing and last minute touches. They say they've deleted everything, but I'm sure they have a backup tucked away somewhere, if nothing else. They've worked on the game for something around 5 years now, after all, they had to have been ready for this.

[bluestarultor]

I actually just saw this today going to Chrono Compendium. Honestly, with the extent that their "hack" was becoming a new, unofficial game, I'm not surprised it got shut down. That's solid intellectual property rights infringement. Not to sound unsympathetic, but going into the computing industry and having properties to worry about, myself, I can honestly say I don't blame Square for killing such a huge project using their work.

Not that I don't admire the work, but people act like these kinds of actions are dirty and underhanded, when it's perfectly reasonable on both a business and human level. It's just that nobody generally tries to put themselves in Square's shoes, or whatever other company kills projects using their stuff. As a programmer and aspiring game writer, I'm learning to side with them, because like all artists, game writers have a right to their own work and need to defend the hell out of it if anything pops up.

[Regulus Tera]

Originally Posted by bluestarultor

I actually just saw this today going to Chrono Compendium. Honestly, with the extent that their "hack" was becoming a new, unofficial game, I'm not surprised it got shut down. That's solid intellectual property rights infringement. Not to sound unsympathetic, but going into the computing industry and having properties to worry about, myself, I can honestly say I don't blame Square for killing such a huge project using their work.

Not that I don't admire the work, but people act like these kinds of actions are dirty and underhanded, when it's perfectly reasonable on both a business and human level. It's just that nobody generally tries to put themselves in Square's shoes, or whatever other company kills projects using their stuff. As a programmer and aspiring game writer, I'm learning to side with them, because like all artists, game writers have a right to their own work and need to defend the hell out of it if anything pops up.

Why should a fan community be refraining itself from paying homage to a company's work? This is a costless marketing exercise for Square and they basically decided to shit in the mouths of some of its most obviously loyal fans. Almost every other video game company has at least reached the stage where they give even some acknowledgement of their online communities, but Square is the kind of company that will still fuck its fans around with private theatre showings of trailers and then try and remove any trace of cameraphone recordings.

I'm not saying Square doesn't have a right to do this, but that it is absolutely backwards insane to actively ban fans from enjoying themselves when they lose nothing in return.

[Bells]

Or they don't want people making games on their franchises so that in the future when/if Squeenix makes a new Chronno Trigger they won't be sued for "stealing ideas" from their fanbase...

I know it sounds absurd. But it's not like we haven't seem absurd stuff before...

Why should a fan community be refraining itself from paying homage to a company's work? This is a costless marketing exercise for Square and they basically decided to shit in the mouths of some of its most obviously loyal fans. Almost every other video game company has at least reached the stage where they give even some acknowledgement of their online communities, but Square is the kind of company that will still fuck its fans around with private theatre showings of trailers and then try and remove any trace of cameraphone recordings.

I'm not saying Square doesn't have a right to do this, but that it is absolutely backwards insane to actively ban fans from enjoying themselves.

That's not entirely fair. Look it from the company point of view... there is copyright law, these people have broken it. So, the action they performed to break it is Illegal...

To a Cold, Business/Law point of view... why should the Company take their word when they say that their work is going to be 100% free forever? If Square doesn't take action early on, isn't there a possibility that another group, or 3 more groups, may decide to take the same course of action? Because what they are going to see is that "Square seems to be fine with this". And if one of those groups decides to take it a step further and try to sneak a profit out of it?

Technicalities all around, bla bla bla, point being: Square Enix saves it self from a lot of Head ache, Legal fees and lost time if they slice the big ones when they are ripped and near ready. To scare all the other to not even try to grow...

What you're saying is "Heart Talk". Fans, Loyalty, Homage... that stuff hardly ever makes a blip on the radar of Big companies (all of them). They only see "Logical Talk" and the shortest route to less trouble and more profits... that's what they call a "Business model".

[Loyal]

Originally Posted by bluestarultor

Not that I don't admire the work, but people act like these kinds of actions are dirty and underhanded, when it's perfectly reasonable on both a business and human level. It's just that nobody generally tries to put themselves in Square's shoes, or whatever other company kills projects using their stuff. As a programmer and aspiring game writer, I'm learning to side with them, because like all artists, game writers have a right to their own work and need to defend the hell out of it if anything pops up.

Has anyone reasonably said ANYTHING to the effect of what you're accusing people of saying?

From what I remember, even on the last CT thing the complaints were mostly along the line of "Jesus Square, did you have to just kill it like that? Why not hire them?"

[bluestarultor]

Originally Posted by Regulus Tera

Why should a fan community be refraining itself from paying homage to a company's work? This is a costless marketing exercise for Square and they basically decided to shit in the mouths of some of its most obviously loyal fans. Almost every other video game company has at least reached the stage where they give even some acknowledgement of their online communities, but Square is the kind of company that will still fuck its fans around with private theatre showings of trailers and then try and remove any trace of cameraphone recordings.

I'm not saying Square doesn't have a right to do this, but that it is absolutely backwards insane to actively ban fans from enjoying themselves when they lose nothing in return.

Do me a favor. Go make some sort of piece of work. One that you value. I don't care if it's a game, picture, song, or whatever. Sell it for profit. Now have a bunch of people steal it. Have people steal your characters, your lyrics, your art, whatever. Have it spread all across the Internet. Now see if you don't care and admire all those people for stealing your hard work and doing with it what they please. Bonus points if they make something really good out of it that DOES hurt your sales. Square isn't shitting on a damn person. They're protecting their property, just like you wouldn't want people breaking into your home and running off with all your prized possessions. It's their property just as much as your computer is yours.

Originally Posted by Bells

Or they don't want people making games on their franchises so that in the future when/if Squeenix makes a new Chronno Trigger they won't be sued for "stealing ideas" from their fanbase...

I know it sounds absurd. But it's not like we haven't seem absurd stuff before...

This is also, oddly, a valid concern. You know Coke killed a rival soda comapny? Polar Cola had the polar bears as their mascots. When Coke cranked out their first polar bear commercial, Polar Cola didn't defend their mascots. When Polar Cola came out with THEIR next commercial, Coke sued them and won.




Edit: Loyal: I wasn't targeting anyone around here, just Internet outrage in general. I know I was harsh on RT just above, because it WOULD make sense to see if any of these people were employable, but it's also a matter of whether they're needed. Hacking a ROM is piss-easy. I've doodled around with it. If all they can do is at best make an SNES game, they aren't going to be useful to the company.

Addendum: There's also a matter of supervision and quality control on these kinds of things, because I'd honestly question the loyalty of people hired off from stealing my intellectual property in the first place. Fan projects can be quite organized, but there's a pattern of a lack of secrecy, which is dangerous in the business world.

[Kim]

For those of you who were looking forward to this, I'll tell you the same thing I told Mac. It's much easier to deal with if you just assume it would have been a massive disappointment anyways, which is a pretty safe assumption.

To be fair, though, I didn't really care about this anyways, so my immediate reaction was pretty much, "Oh, okay."

[Regulus Tera]

Originally Posted by bluestarultor

Do me a favor. Go make some sort of piece of work. One that you value. I don't care if it's a game, picture, song, or whatever. Sell it for profit. Now have a bunch of people steal it. Have people steal your characters, your lyrics, your art, whatever. Have it spread all across the Internet. Now see if you don't care and admire all those people for stealing your hard work and doing with it what they please. Bonus points if they make something really good out of it that DOES hurt your sales. Square isn't shitting on a damn person. They're protecting their property, just like you wouldn't want people breaking into your home and running off with all your prized possessions. It's their property just as much as your computer is yours.

In what way are these guys "stealing" Square's property? By modifying a ROM of a cartridge they've long since bought? They are not selling the hack at any cost either, so there's no potential market being sucked from Square. If anything, these guys are keeping alive a franchise Square has long since been neglecting.

Originally Posted by Bells

That's not entirely fair. Look it from the company point of view... there is copyright law, these people have broken it. So, the action they performed to break it is Illegal...

To a Cold, Business/Law point of view... why should the Company take their word when they say that their work is going to be 100% free forever? If Square doesn't take action early on, isn't there a possibility that another group, or 3 more groups, may decide to take the same course of action? Because what they are going to see is that "Square seems to be fine with this". And if one of those groups decides to take it a step further and try to sneak a profit out of it?

Technicalities all around, bla bla bla, point being: Square Enix saves it self from a lot of Head ache, Legal fees and lost time if they slice the big ones when they are ripped and near ready. To scare all the other to not even try to grow...

What you're saying is "Heart Talk". Fans, Loyalty, Homage... that stuff hardly ever makes a blip on the radar of Big companies (all of them). They only see "Logical Talk" and the shortest route to less trouble and more profits... that's what they call a "Business model".

The difficulty here is that, essentially, you're looking at the equivalent of fan-fiction: unauthorised derivative works that do not meaningfully compete with the original project and which are produced solely as labors of love by legitimate, income-generating fans.

The legality issue is also pretty gray. Many aspects of ROM hacking are de facto legal, even if the actual distribution of what could be called a "derivative work" is less certain, and it's pretty strongly not in game publishers' interests to see something like this actually go to court and risk a ruling that doesn't come down in the publisher's favor.

With luck, this is some kind of random mistake or dumb move by some guy who was bored at Square Enix Legal, rather than some kind of new, mutually-non-beneficial policy of zero tolerance. This is also the first time a ROMhack has ever be C&D'd, so there really isn't any precedent to go by here.