Nicalis complications DMCA in opposition to free Cave Memoir video games

US writer Nicalis is below fire for its dispute of takedown notices in opposition to a vary of projects concerning hit indie sport Cave Memoir.

The Metroidvania title became once developed by Daisuke ‘Pixel’ Amaya and first released in 2004 as a freeware title, before Nicalis worked with him to design ports for Wii and DS.

Nicalis has furthermore developed updated versions — including Cave Memoir+ and Cave Memoir 3D — for a vary of Nintendo platforms and Steam.

The freeware version has since been decompiled and feeble to make a vary of fan-made projects, including the Cave Memoir Engine 2, which enables customers to make their have versions of the sport.

On the opposite hand, the Cave Memoir Engine 2 GitHub repo has been taken down after Nicalis issued a DMCA, claiming the challenge makes dispute of the source code of its have version of Cave Memoir.

Diverse fan developers, and even some significant industry mavens equivalent to Rami Ismail, hang decried this pass by arrangement of Twitter, believing the rest basically based off the freeware version to be outdoors Nicalis’ rights.

“For any individual to play dirty delight in this with that sport or its legacy exquisite feels delight in a disrespect to all the pieces it supposed, and all the pieces it helped design happen by arrangement of its existence,” Ismail wrote.

“I’m slightly certain that capabilities my have profession in video games, so yeah, this feels non-public.”

There looks to be some confusion as to whether the freeware usual of Cave Memoir has furthermore been taken down. At the time of writing, it looks to tranquil be available by arrangement of FilePlanet and a fan-made tribute situation.

It has been suggested that Nicalis’ claim stems from its ownership of the IP rights slightly than ownership of the usual sport.

A DMCA issued in opposition to a 2019 Kickstarter campaign for an Xbox One port states Nicalis’ rights “contain the sport’s title, trace, narrative, characters, artwork, tune, and packaging.” These were feeble on the campaign’s most important online page and in its video.

GamesIndustry.biz has contacted Amaya and Nicalis for more data.