You could release a Tetris clone today for free and you'll probably never see a DMCA complaint. Using the name 'Tetris' can get you in legal hot water, but making a game where you connect tetrominoes to clear lines is perfectly fine save for a case where a clone was met with an infringement claim with very narrow, specific terms in 2012. Aside from this one case, there are thousands of clones of Tetris floating around out there on mobile phones, websites, and even as Easter eggs in programs such as the uTorrent client. The go-to example of cloning games has to be Tetris. Companies will go after anyone using one of their trademarks very aggressively purely on the possible risk of losing it one day. Some companies take their legal actions a bit too aggressively to protect their trademarks, but it's understandable considering the risks. In fact, trademark law is handled much more aggressively due to the possibility that you can lose it if the trademark becomes diluted. Secondly, trademarks are highly protected. To my knowledge, all of the notable cases with Nintendo fan games hit with a DMCA have made use of copyrighted assets or trademarks. You can make a monster-catching game called Palm Creatures that closely replicates the gameplay of Pokémon and you'll probably be fine. Nintendo probably won't do anything about it as long as you don't use any copyrighted material (arts, assets, etc.) from existing games or recreate things that are extremely similar. Fan games have had a shaky history of either being hit with legal action prior to their release or immediately afterward.įirst, as far as United States copyright law is concerned, you cannot copyright the ideas or gameplay behind a game. Indie game service Game Jolt saw over 500 games taken down after a complaint by Nintendo. These are just some recent examples. CCP Games put the kibosh on a fan remake of Vampire The Masquerade - Bloodlines. Another Metroid 2 Remake was hit with a DMCA by Nintendo (and later made available for download again through other channels). This pattern has happened time and time again in the gaming world. Nine years of development down the drain, just like that. A planned companion game (in the style of all Pokémon games releasing in pairs) appears not likely to happen. On September 21st, Pokémon Uranium ceased all development.

First, it received multiple takedown notices from Nintendo resulting in them removing all download links from their site. It is the latest in a long line of fan-made games of popular properties that found itself it legal hot water by way of a DMCA or Cease & Desist notice. The Pokémon Uranium fan game has stopped all development for reasons unknown.

Pokeone fanmade game