Posted by Strider on 5/12/2009, 8:12 am
(crossposted from eljay)
So there's this group that was- until recently- making an enormous, fan-made rom hack of the original Chrono Trigger called Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes to create a gaiden/unofficial sequel of sorts. The project began in '04, and was nearing completion- featuring (according to their website) 35 hours of gameplay and 10 different endings. Judging from the trailers, it uses some plot elements from Chrono Cross and follows an attempt by Queen Zeal to change history to prevent her empire from falling.
This month, they got a cease-and-desist letter from Square.
I'm not really sure how I feel about this. On one hand, this kind of surprises me, as I'd always been under the impression that japanese companies on the whole were pretty laid-back about fan works and copyrights; on the other hand, this hack seems to recycle a lot of the original material, so Square may have been concerned about diluting their brand or obfuscating canon. Personally, as someone who's usually happy to see 'fan energy' like this: while there's no doubt in my mind that Square is within their legal rights, this is still a pretty shit move on their part.
I hope to see the team move on to something else; my comrade-in-arms Hunty wrote about a similar kerfluffle a few years ago.
- HC
