this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2024
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That Portal 64 demake we liked so much has been kiboshed by Valve: 'They have asked me to take the project down,' creator says (www.pcgamer.com)
submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
26 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

Honestly, a bit surprised by this. It wasn't even on Steam. Hopefully switching to an open source SDK will get this back up.

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[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I think people are missing the fact that most fanmade content that Valve has historically been ok with is all original material. Black Mesa, Portal Stories, and others all used the Valve IP but were all original content. This port actually uses Valve-created content so, regardless of Nintendo’s involvement (although it makes the demand for this action stronger), they legally have to enforce it or risk losing the legal protections for that property.

Nintendo just gave them a convenient way to stop it before they needed to do it anyways.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I don't think thats how it works for copyright. You have to defend your trademarks to keep them but for copyright, you can decide who can use it rather arbitralily.

Especially allowing a release of an old game on platform you don't support which would not really compete with you.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It’s not about whether it competes. It’s about whether a “reasonable person” could confuse it for being an authorized product of the IP owner. In this case, people could confuse it with both a licensed Nintendo product (since it runs on original hardware) and it could be confused with an official Valve release (since the content is an exact (as possible) recreation of the levels and assets from the original game.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

So you are clearly talking about trademark. A game design can't be trademarked. Only the name. Yes, if the name could be confused, that could be an issue. Maybe the cover art to some extent, if it is trademarked.

But if the game origin can be confused, so what? No law against that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (2 children)

if nintendo has the potential to take legal action against valve for this I dont blame them for doing this. Nintendo has some fucking balls to the walls lawyers that will do anything to protect their IPs. Valve has every reason to be afraid of nintendo

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I don't think Nintendo would have a case against Valve, only against the developers of the demake. It looks more like Valve wants to maintain a good relationship with Nintendo, given Valve has ported Portal to the Switch and may intend to port more of their back catalog.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Some people are also saying valve gave the guy a friendly warning about using the Nintendo sdk rather than sending a cease and desist, and the reporting on it was misleading

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

They also likely have a touchy relationship right now considering the removal of dolphin.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

It sucks but I also wouldn’t want to get involved with Nintendos lawyers so I can’t blame Steam.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (3 children)

"Hey, don't use code for our dead game console we stopped manufacturing 22 years ago and don't support anymore!"

Who gives a fuck, Nintendo?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

It wasn't Nintendo, it was Valve taking preemptive action because of how Nintendo has acted in the past...

It's unfortunate, but it's pretty reasonable given how Nintendo is.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Wasn’t it taken down at Valve’s request, not Nintendo’s demand?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Officially yes. We have no idea if Nintendo sent a private email saying "please figure this out before we do."

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Yes, but mainly because Valve doesn't want to deal with Nintendo's lawyers since it used their libraries.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

I really wish they would and set a precedent for Nintendo's anti-consumer tactics.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Nintendo could benefit greatly by just allowing these kind of projects, but that would be out of character and we can't be having that.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It's a bit like if Metallica had just embraced Napster

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It was Scorpions that went after Napster, no?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Stop with the fan projects already.

These companies don’t give a shit and will just squash any project that they can’t milk for funding.

Best case scenario you never release your work in fear of getting sued and nobody gets to play your game.

Make new projects inspired by these games and actually build your own fanbase instead of being at the behest of greedy corporations.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You know, you chose a bad post to get edgy.

Valve is actually one of the companies that treats fan projects very well, sometimes they'll even let you sell your project on Steam (see Black Mesa remake).

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Valve is actually one of the companies that treats fan projects very well

Well, not this fan project…

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Yes, but Valve didn't block it based on their own IP. The focus really should be on the fact that Nintendo is so litigious. This was a fan project of a non-Nintendo IP. Their reputation is preceding them.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

It's a shame, but their request doesn't seem unreasonable. No one likes dealing with Nintendo's lawyers. I hope switching SDKs works out!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Apparently even Valve's lawyers don't like dealing with Nintendo's lawyers.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

I mean... Tbf, they are kinda dicks, so yeah, I get it.