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Indie developer community Game Jolt has been told by Nintendo to take down more than 500 of its fan-made titles.
According to site founder David DeCarmine, the DMCA notice pertains to 562 games that allegedly infringe on the copyrights for three of Nintendo’s best-known properties: Mario, Zelda and Pokémon.
DeCarmine said that the request would be honoured and the games removed by being ‘locked’ – meaning that creators affected should still be able to access their games, although no-one else will be able to.
“Developers affected by takedown notices should never lose data,” DeCarmine elaborated. “The games will still show in your dashboards for historical purposes.”
He added that “in the spirit of transparency”, the site would openly announce any future takedown notices and the titles concerned, with the full list of those hit by Nintendo’s request released.
Nintendo states in its notice that: “The web site at gamejolt.com generates revenue from advertising banners displayed on the site and advertisements played while users wait for the games to load.”
Another catalyst for the takedown may be the site’s recent move to launch a paid marketplace, with devs able to set their own revenue share.
