Square Enix Shuts Down Fan-Made Chrono Trigger Sequel

[Gingerbread Lesbian]

On May 8, Chrono Compendium received a wide-reaching cease and desist letter from Square Enix, Inc. As with Chrono Trigger: Resurrection and Chrono Trigger Remake Project's letters, they have uploaded the letter for viewing here as a matter of public interest.

Chrono Compendium have decided to comply with Square Enix's demands. Most of the Chrono Compendium webpages and forums will be unaffected by these changes. However, their 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. They have already destroyed all known copies of Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes and other modifications and projects. They 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

Affected parties may contact the administration in private if there is any personal information they wish to retrieve from the deprecated forums.

They do not accept the validity of Square Enix's claims, nor the legal rationale underpinning their position. Nonetheless, they are complying with their demands so as to avoid the expenses and burdens of litigation, because, frankly,Square Enix can afford a frivolous lawsuit more than Chrono Compendium can.

 

[Sir Kenneth]

That's a pretty douche-baggery stunt to pull on some of your most dedicated fans. A lot of other large video game franchise holders don't mind and even encourage fan involvement and development like this. Imagine if Blizzard sent a cease and desist letter to the makers of Questhelper or if Firaxis meticulously started removing all Civilization mods from the internet. Square probably has the law on their side, but I don't think they'll gain anything from this apart from bad press.

 

[Elenfir]

When are computer companies gonna learn that these sort of modding guys bring new players and fans. What if Valve tried to shut down the mod Half-Life? Just annoys me that they never learn.

 

[Estella Vanilla]

It's very disappointing to see that. I'm sure it would have been an amazing game. And it's not like they were trying to make money off of the idea either, it's free advertising. SE is full of jackasses.

 

[Valkyrur]

Agreed.. It's kind of foolish to remove all these creations made by their very own fans.. Though, it makes me believe that they're considering making a sequel to the Chrono Trigger series. (Which means a sequel to Chrono Cross, I'm doubtful, yet hopeful at the same time)

 

[The Illusive Man]

Well tbh, SE are being pretty pathetic sending a cease and desist letter over this.....

For one, the project was free, they were not profiteering off of se's work, thus not in direct copyright violation.

For two, I highly doubt they were taking credit for SE's work and much like many other sites, were probably attaching disclaimers to there "modifications".

For three, this just looks like SE flexing corporate muscle and pushing others around, not a good move for any company to be making....look at the state of EA's rep and how many people refuse to play a single game made by EA nowadays, in short....not a good bandwagon to be hopping on...

In closing, Many gaming companies of today realise that modding and coding fan-made content, is a large part of what keeps a gaming franchise alive, some of the best loved titles have a HUGE base of mod-coders working on fan-made extended content...if you look to the companies like ID, Valve and Rare they actually encourage and willingly post open source code up to allow the community free reign over the code, which is down to the main reason those companies have so many game of the year awards.....when was the last time SE or EA took down a GOTY award?.....Thats right I dont think they EVER have...and with there attitude...I dont think they EVER will!