Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
[Column] General: Square Enix Crushes Fan Mod
SBFord
Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129
The gaming community is constantly inventive. Amidst the best game communities are modders willing to breathe new life into the games they love, expanding them beyond their original scope, and introducing them to entire new audiences. So long as the publisher is willing to let them, of course. That wasn’t the case this week as Square Enix dropped the boot on a years-long Final Fantasy project, much to the dismay of fans. That, the Destiny controversy, Dragon Age delays, and more in this week’s RPG Files. You won’t want to miss it.
Read more of Christopher Coke's The RPG Files: Square Enix Crushes Fan Mod.
)
Comments
Smile
The only fan made project that SE shut down that actually made me mad at them was the Chrono Trigger remake named Chrono Resurrection. It happened around 2004 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrono_Resurrection
Heres the trailer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ANEBIB0oao
They released the patch one day before SE announced that they would release the game for PS4 and Xbox One. There were little indications prior to that that SE would release the game outside of Japan. We may talk about piracy and all of that, but when gamers are highly interested in a title not currently available in their country or platform and the only way to gain access to it is to find a pirated version online or go through various loops to bypass regional locks because the publishing company shows little to no interest, well people will do it.
Not every online petitions, like the one for a Dark Souls PC port, are successful, and as far as I'm aware, I'm still waiting for a North American release of Phantasy Star Online 2 for North America...I'm looking at you SEGA. On the other hand, The Japanese server has removed its IP block and modders are constantly updating their English translation patch with every update. PSO2 fans now have two options, either they wait for a NA release that may or may not ever happen, or they can play on the JP server and use the English patch made by modders and enjoy the game they've been expecting. The choice is simple, and the same issue applies to FF Type-0. When publishers shows little to no enthusiasm in releasing their game outside of a very restricted amount of countries, players will find a way around it, whether the publisher has an epiphany or not.
Which is not to say that I endorse piracy, quite the contrary, but piracy thrives on companies placing roadblocks preventing people from enjoying what they want to enjoy. In this day and age of digital download and increased accessibility, I find it hard to believe that these companies have a hard time translating games to release to other countries, citing uncertainty with sales potential, when a handful of modders in their basement can release an English patch of decent quality and then have their patch downloaded by 100,000 people in 4 days with word of mouth alone.
Originally posted by Arskaaa
"when players learned tacticks in dungeon/raids, its bread".
I think we will forever be waiting for PSO2...Also Dragon Quest X.
Interesting story.
I guess it raises the issue of what exactly 'copyright' covers and to what extent?
Personally, I have an issue with the use of the word piracy here. Piracy, IMHO is theft of someone else's work. But in this case SkyBladeCloud (and his team) put in their own work on their own software. The fact that it modifies someone elses software (and to what extent?) could no doubt keep lawyers busy for years.
Unless the patch allowed people to download a pirated copy of the game and then patch it? (That's not clear in the article unless I missed it?)
If people are patching a game they purchased legally then as far as I am concerned that's their business and their risk. All Fan based Mods work that way. I have several games I play that have Fan Mods installed. I own the games legally but the developers make it clear they cannot provide tech support to patches they did not distribute.
Then we get into the whole issue of player made patches and fixes to games which are buggy to begin with?
Is that a copyright infringement?
Now sure, Square Enix may own the copyright to the Final Fantasy world... but that's a slippery slope. How much fan art work (including You Tube videos) and fan fiction is out there? And what is the value of all that free advertising?
Nothing says irony like spelling ideot wrong.
I wouldn't be surprised at anything this poor excuse for a company did to alienate its customers or fans.
I purchased the Collector's Edition of FFXIV 1.0 and we all know what a disaster that game was! I tried to get my money back for that hack of a game that was possibly the worst waste of money I've ever experienced in my life and expectedly, no dice. So then, fast forward to FFXIV 2.0 in which I was told by Squeenix I'd receive for free as an apology for their 1.0 mishap.
So what happens next?...Not only do they not send out any email to me, notifying me of how to download and install 2.0, there is a glitch with their system that will not allow me to get into the 2.0 game for the initial free trial period...which perhaps may be the reason I never got the email.
So, I then submit a support ticket in which the people that are helping me are next to useless.
By the time my issue is resolved and I'm able to get into the game, there is only 2 days left of my trial period (that's including the extra playtime SE handed out for the server issues). I am then expected to cough up the $14.99 monthly fee. So, I ask Squeenix if -- because of their technical issue with my account -- I could be given an extra 12 days...the extra 12 days I was originally due to try out the game. They refuse, telling me that even though they admit fault, it is impossible to grant me extra time and that they are truly sorry. They say I will just need to pay the $14.99 to try the game.
What a load of BS!
So, I was pissed at the fact that they suckered me into $80 the first time and are basically screwing me over again. I then contact the Better Business Bureau who then proceed to contact Square Enix -- and all this time, I'm simply asking for the trial time I'm due, a mere 12 days of gametime. Still Square Enix refuses saying it's not their policy.
Even the woman from the BBB stated in her email to me that she thought the company was being absolutely ridiculous for fighting against granting me 12 days of gametime in a virtual world -- gametime that I wasn't initially able to take advantage of due to their error!!!
It's friggin' asinine!
If that company went bankrupt tomorrow, I would not shed a tear!...although it would suck for the innocent people that are just trying to make a living.
I've played just about every MMO under the sun and have dealt with some absolutely amazing people via customer support at various companies (Blizzard being the absolute best IMHO); however, I've never dealt with such unreasonable people as I have with at Square Enix and I now absolutely refuse to buy anything from them ever again!
I know, I know! I can hear some of you now, "it's probably your fault" (which is isn't)..."good riddance" (because I had this misfortune with a game you love)...or "you're a [insert expletive here]". But honestly, I just wanted to be able to try the game without having to cough up $14.99, especially after the fact that I had already spent $80 before on a giant turd of a game and thus wanted to make sure I wasn't again wasting my money.
As the saying goes, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me!"
It blows my mind that they would treat a customer that way, particularly when there is the possibility for them to easily make that money back off me in the future at a $14.99/month clip. Simply bewildering.
+1000
I TOTALLY agree and endorse EVERYTHING you said. Someone somewhere needs to WAKE UP before gaming suffers the same sad fate that the music industry suffered and to this day hasn't recovered from.
It would suck to spend a year on something, only to have it disavowed by the developer.
I haven't read the article though, so my comment might be irrelevant.
I can not remember winning or losing a single debate on the internet.
Brenics ~ Just to point out I do believe Chris Roberts is going down as the man who cheated backers and took down crowdfunding for gaming.
Age old story. Reminds of Alien Quake (Alien mod for the first Quake, obviously). 20th Century Fox didn't like people making a mod out of their IP, so they crushed it.
On the other hand, you have companies like Volition who supported mods for Freespace 2 to the point they released the source code.
Not fond of SQEX marketting either (the Drag-on Dragoon 3 debacle in the EU was rather infuriating), but i understand why they did what they did in this particular case. If you screw around with an IP and the owner asks you kindly to stop it, you do not continue and start QQ'ing when the lawyers are ringing at your doorbell.
Besides, arguing copyright laws don't apply because you live in Spain ... /facepalm
fully agree and it's shady this article's stance in favor of Square Enix. How this article support such companies who work solely based on greed ? ok the modder was far optimistic, but his efforts were not illegal at the end Square Enix's stance is illegal raising limitations on to who will use their product.
Square are dinasaurs. Maybe if they ask the internet nicely then it will go away.
They seriously burned an opportunity to gain some love from gamers, something that they could use. Not a lot of people relative to the past consider Square a top-tier source for games.
We live in a time when you can't expect there not to be such fan patches. Trying to fight against it is just not practical. Timed releases need to be thought out. They could have provided a translated version themselves anytime before the fan patch released. They got beat after not releasing it to those who wanted it. Now they just look beat and petty.
Exactly why I don't play Square Enix games. Clueless publisher.
You would think with all the negative publicity they have had the past two years they would try to avoid more, but no, clueless as always.
Wouldn't even be surprised if they announced the PS4 and XBox One to add weight to their claim, as otherwise a lawyer could argue that they do not have any interest in this project, that there is no damage done etc.
I also wonder why companies rarely reach out to the modders and tell them "hey, we can't have you fiddiling around with copyrighted stuff, but we love that you are so interested in our product. How about you stop this, give us the fruit of your work, and we make an (semi-)official release?"
I'll wait to the day's end when the moon is high
And then I'll rise with the tide with a lust for life, I'll
Amass an army, and we'll harness a horde
And then we'll limp across the land until we stand at the shore
The possibility of the universe collapsing into a singularity is higher than the birth of a perfect MMORPG.
That attempt by Sky team was a blatant abuse of copyright and a no brainer and should not be argued in favor of ever because it breaks the law.
You can't simply say i don't live in your country so i don't abide by your rules then allow those very countries where the rules exist to download your stolen product.
That is why we often see online content videos that state content is not allowed in your region or country.
I sometimes do side with projects using other's content but ONLY if it is not trying to break the law or twist the law for monetary value or trying to mask itself as being a great idea when in reality made to cheat.A perfect example is add ons,a lot of the time they are simple cheats or ways to have an advantage on other players.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
I understand that this is a bit soul crushing for that mod team. I really do. But its not always like this, sometimes publishers love it when the community breath new life into their games, or create a new demand for it.
But I do understand why SE has done this, they do not want to impact the sales of their game, as for them not mentioning before hand about its release, well that is down to them, its their property and they are going to choose the best window to make the announcement.
Not trying to be a douche here with it, I feel for the team I really do. But I understand SE position.
Where have you been? FFIV flopped and was only just recently rereleased. That almost destroyed any reputation they had.
As to be illegal, depends on how you look at it and from what country you are viewing it. After the disaster with FFIV I would not touch one of their titles with a 10 fool pole.
Just going to point out something, to my knowledge there was no theft. The team made an English patch, a mod which you must add to the actual game that will translate the content from Japanese to English. It's essentially no different from any other mods modifying content or settings of some video games, like the DSFix and DSMouse fix for Dark Souls PC which allowed a wider range of resolutions and settings as well as better mouse support that went beyond what the PC port supported.
Biggest mistake ever that's for sure.