Yet another casualty goes down in the never-ending battle of copyright enforcement, and this time, it hit a big website which was the host for many fangames based and inspired on Pokemon, called "Relic Castle".

Earlier this week, the owner and the manager of the Relic Castle website, Marin and Andy, respectively, gave the news about the website being taken down by a DMCA notice (which according to the owners, was given by a third-party authorized by The Pokemon Company) throughout the Relic Castle Discord server, as well as through their official Relic Castle website, closing it down entirely and only giving the following message upon entering the website:

Dear Pokémon fan game community,

It is with heavy heart that I announce that the Relic Castle website has been taken down following a DMCA takedown notice.

Relic Castle has always been a non-profit, ad-free, tight-knit community and we pride ourselves in what we have achieved. Members have felt at home, made friends, and even careers with us. It is with deep regret that I have to inform you that the forum part of this community, which was to turn 10 years old this year, has had to come to an end. With over 20,000 members and 65,000 posts, Relic Castle was a home to many of us.

The Discord server is not going anywhere, and the site is still visible as an archive using the Wayback Machine.

Thank you all for being with us this last decade, and thank you for making Relic Castle as awesome and life-changing as it has been for some of us.

Sincerely,
Marin
Owner
&
Andy
Manager

This isn't the first time The Pokemon Company has taken down fan projects based on the Pokemon IP, as was the case with the highly known Pokemon Uranium fangame, and not only that, but The Pokemon Co. has been hard at work hunting down and shutting down all kinds of mods related to Pokemon in any sort of way, like the most recent case of the Palworld-Pokemon mod which was instantly taken down by a DMCA.

Both Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have been on hot waters with all their recent legal actions towards fan projects, emulation and mods, and given their aggressive legal nature, it's unlikely they are going to stop anytime soon.

Source
Relic Castle archive at Archive.org

 

[Gunstorm]

Another one goes down. Nintendo really wants to catch 'em all... all the fan games and mods of course.

Not Nintendo.. pokemon company

 

[SDA]

Not Nintendo.. pokemon company

Maybe both, while Game Freak doesn't seem to care.

 

[ChibiMofo]

"Both Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have been on hot waters with all their recent legal actions towards fan projects, emulation and mods, and given their aggressive legal nature, it's unlikely they are going to stop anytime soon."

Hot waters? What on Earth do you mean by that? Usually that phrase means that the person or entity in question is risking arrest or prosecution or something similar. Neither Nintendo nor The Pokemon Company are in ANY kind of "hot waters" with their justifiable and necessary actions to protect their extremely beloved and valuable intellectual property.

Poor choice of words, Shadow One. Chary never would have phrased it that way.

 

[Bladexdsl]

he prob meant in hot water from FANS

 

[ShadowOne333]

"Both Nintendo and The Pokemon Company have been on hot waters with all their recent legal actions towards fan projects, emulation and mods, and given their aggressive legal nature, it's unlikely they are going to stop anytime soon."

Hot waters? What on Earth do you mean by that? Usually that phrase means that the person or entity in question is risking arrest or prosecution or something similar. Neither Nintendo nor The Pokemon Company are in ANY kind of "hot waters" with their justifiable and necessary actions to protect their extremely beloved and valuable intellectual property.

Poor choice of words, Shadow One. Chary never would have phrased it that way.

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/be-in-hot-water

to be in or get into a difficult situation in which you are in danger of being criticized or punished:

It's used when something is being criticized for actions or certain words, I don't know where you got the definition of legal trouble out of that, but sure I guess.

 

[Xdqwerty]

The Pokémon fan game hosting website "Relic Castle" has been taken down by The Pokémon Company.

Why are you saying the same thing as the title?

 

[XaView]

Understandable