
Last Thursday, Tropical Turtles Entertainment, the developer of the ClayFighter fangame ClayFighter Resculpted, revealed that it had received a message from Interplay's legal department, in which the publisher expressed concerns about the team "using the ClayFighter name and representations of their characters without permission."
Now, though, the project has officially been served with a C&D and is responding to this by retooling the fangame into something wholly original.
According to the design document for the game, ClayFighter Resculpted started development in 2023 and was intended to act as a revival of the ClayFighter series of fighting games (the last ClayFighter release was the Blockbuster-exclusive Scultpor's Cut released as a rental all the way back in 1998). It was being built in Unity with the Universal Fighting Game engine and was set to feature an art style that was inspired by the rudimentary claymation of the original games.
Tropical Turtles Entertainment has been sharing some updates on its progress over on Twitter ever since the project began. But now Interplay has stepped in to shut down the project, leading the team to try to salvage the work into an original fighting game instead.
In a message on its Discord (which has since been reposted on Twitter), the ClayFighter ReSculpted developer Windindi posted the following update, alerting the game's supporters to this upcoming change:
"I have made a major decision regarding our future, as I am complying with the C&D given to me by Interplay. However, after seeking much praise, attention, and recommendations from all of you, I have decided to continue developing a original fighting game separate from the fan concept prior, but keeping certain elements inspired by the original project. I can understand if this upsets some of you, but it is the course of action I feel is appropriate for myself and everyone who were looking forward to what I had to offer. I hope you are still looking forward to what we make, and I ask that you stay tuned! It'll be a while, but I hope you stick around for what we have to offer. With much love and thanks."
This news will obviously be frustrating for those among you who are fans of the retro fighting game series, as Interplay has failed to release a sequel to Sculptor's Cut over the last two decades.
In 2009, it announced a Nintendo DSi and Wii game ClayFighter: Call of Putty, which was cancelled before release. This was then followed by a potential remaster scheduled for 2016, which also failed to see the light of day. In place of an official continuation, a community of dedicated fan creators has stepped up to try and satisfy the demand for a sequel or remaster. But this latest announcement may likely give these developers a reason to pause.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 22
Well, this OBVIOUSLY means Interplay is working on a new Clayfighter. I mean, they wouldn't just keep sitting on the rights to this franchise that they're so fiercely protective of, right? RIGHT?!
25 years since the last game and they're still willing to wage war against their fans.
but remember, everyone. they're WeLl WiThIn ThEiR rIgHtS tO dO sO!
it always makes me wonder why people even bother being "fans" of video games when the companies that make video games would rather see the entire history of the entirety of video game MEDIA go up in smoke for nothing JUST so their fans cannot touch the precious IPs EVEN IF those fan creations are 100% free and cost the companies approximately $0.00 to make.
more and more, as time goes on, i am less inclined to EVER give any of these companies money for ANY of their products as that would mean i am rewarding this kind of BS with money.
there's maybe 4 or 5 games coming out in the next few months. those are the ONLY games to come out across this entire YEAR that have even been WORTH paying for after several major BOMBS earlier in the year.
and i'm not going to call for something like a boycott because i know full well that it WON'T be any company that shuts that down. no, it will be my fellow gamers who are stricken with corporate STOCKHOLM SYNDROME!
yeah, companies don't even need a PR or legal team to defend themselves against boycotts because GAMERS stomp out any boycott or protest started BY gamers.
that's how complete and utterly messed up ALL of this is! in every way imaginable, us, the people who actually pay money to purchase video games are non-stop Fed!
i've been a gamer for over 25 years (i'm 35 now). i grew up during the end of the revival age of games (nes aka 3rd generation) and throughout the golden age of games (the sega vs nintendo 4th generation) and have lived long enough to reach the "oh gods, what did we do to deserve this grimdark future of NON-STOP, LUBELESS, A$$ FING?!" future of gaming!
where fan projects are ALWAYS killed off to the point where "so, how long until your C&D arrives" is an unironic, DEAD SERIOUS, question for ALL fan projects of ANY kind.
and where companies do everything they can possibly CONCEIVE of to squeeze blood from the molecules of the stone they crushed years ago.
i've been waiting and wanting another industry crash for years because maybe, just MAYBE, that might possibly FIX things. but it never happens because the industry as a whole is "too big to fail".
there is NOTHING left to look forward to except a rare FEW games...10 or LESS per year now.
it's worse than if the industry had simply died at some point. because it's now an industry actively working against the people that helped make it what it is and who still sustain it.
remember, it is against copyright LAW for people to make video game fan projects.
it is all but blatantly officially illegal to do so.
i'm not saying all of that JUST as a black pill comment but rather i say it as a reminder of the REALITY we gamers now live through.
and it gets worse every year.
Still don't know why these publishers don't comission the fan projects to something they could officially release, rather than shut them down.
Sega did it and we got Sonic Mania as a result. I guess they'd rather not make money and have negative press instead.
@treos this problem exists neverending-ly in the big triple a "bLoCkBuStEr" genre that most popular companies in the gaming and entertainment industry use. I almost always pirate these big name games whereas my money is really only going to indie devs on steam and whatnot. nintendo insomniac and capcom are literally the only consistently bright spots in what is otherwise just the sequel to the atari era of 80's gaming lmao.
@Guru_Larry Semi-related but the lego segments in across the spider-verse were literally added because chris and lord saw a kid doing insanely impressive fan made lego recreations of the trailers and hired him to do the segments. Wish companies would either do that or take the capcom route of giving the fandevs goodies as compensation.
I don’t understand why they’re so protective of the IP, the original games landed with a “thud”, and their attempts to port or remake it all floundered (Presumably because there was no money in it).
So why hoard a second-string IP like a greedy dragon then?
@MysticX honestly, it may be less protective and more embarrassed by the IP, or at least that particular sequel. While the first couple games were gimmicky fighters thanks to their claymation origins, and their levels of parody were a cozy PG at most, the third game went to 90s-level EXTREMEZ to offend, with Kung Pow being a real bottom-of-the-barrel attempt at humor. Houngan doesn’t fare much better, leaning into voodoo tropes that were well past their sell-by date even in ‘97. And then there’s cut content like Hobo Cop. Not Interplay’s finest moment so I doubt they’d want to revisit it or have others remind the world that they exist.
@treos It's legal precedence. Even if it's a violation over a product they don't care much about, if Interplay doesn't stop them, it would make it harder for them to stop someone else copying another IP more relevant (to... uh... whatever Interplay is still doing these days... I didn't even know they were still alive).
@QuackFu if that was the case they wouldnt have recently rereleased toonstruck on top of working with doug tenapel to make a new earthworm jim game for the intellivision amico
@PinballBuzzbro I never played Toonstruck and a quick search has me coming up empty on any controversies around the game. What are the issues with its content? And as far as I'm aware Doug TenNapel has nothing to do with more recent Earthworm Jim developments:
https://www.cartoonbrew.com/series/the-controversial-creator-of-earthworm-jim-isnt-involved-in-the-new-spin-off-series-210772.html
He was seemingly never truly involved with Earthworm Jim 4 per this very site:
https://www.timeextension.com/news/2023/01/so-whats-happening-with-earthworm-jim-4
And given that it was going to be an exclusive for the Amico, of all things...
https://www.svg.com/1242930/earthworm-jim-4-the-bizarre-saga-of-the-cancelled-intellivision-amico-exclusive/
@QuackFu toonstruck had a whole segment where a farm gets turned into a bdsm dungeon. I dont recall clayfighter 63 and a half having much controversy and i was going more off of the actual content in game. Besides, clayfighter 1 and 2 have next to no offensive content in them.
@PinballBuzzbro Toonstruck, as I understand it, skews more adult with its humor. There's nothing inherently offensive about BDSM, certainly as presented in that game (a cow wearing leather...). The problem with Clayfighter 3 isn't the humor as a whole, juvenile as it is, but a few of the individual characters as conceived. A Chinese stereotype voiced by a white dude doesn't do anyone any favors these days. I'm not saying the game should be wiped from existence or anything (I've got a copy myself around here somewhere!). I just can't imagine Interplay would be champing at the bit to re-release it.
@Guru_Larry I feel like so many of these Video Game developers from existing IPs could literally PRINT money if they only thought like their fans.
@KingMike just another on the ever growing list of reasons to NOT give them money.
to not reward them for stuff like this.
@Guru_Larry nice surprise seeing you here. been a fan of your youtube channel for years.
@PinballBuzzbro same, i try to give these companies as little money as i can as that tells them i support what they're doing no matter how bad or anti-consumer/fan they behave.
if you give them money, you're telling them that you support and approve of what they're doing in the only language they comprehend.
tbh, the thing that always bothers me the most about this sort of situation is not the legality or that companies do this to protect those IP's.
it's that whenever anything like this happens it is NOT the companies defending themselves. it is people like @kingMike here stepping up to do defense FOR the companies.
"It's legal precedence. Even if it's a violation over a product they don't care much about, if Interplay doesn't stop them, it would make it harder for them to stop someone else copying another IP more relevant (to... uh... whatever Interplay is still doing these days... I didn't even know they were still alive)."
WHO. GIVES. A. F?!
the entire flipping industry is ANTI-CONSUMER and ANTI-FAN outside of SO few companies that you could likely count them on ONE HAND!
every single time something like this happens it is freaking gamers and fans who step up to the plate to play defense for the companies AGAINST themselves AND their fellow gamers/fans!
EVERY single time!
gamers are not permitted to boycott or protest or speak out against these companies doing bad things because their fellow gamers shut them down FOR these companies!
take a wild guess at exactly how video game companies use copyright and dmca laws.
.......
they use them to keep IPs locked away and punish any who dare to so much as THINK of touching or using them to create fan content.
actually you know what...one more comment to go along with this one to help illustrate JUST how F'ed we gamers are. one moment...
Bellular News - 87% Of Games Are Dead.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71HjXIqTSxE
see the chart shown at 0:47.
that is the average % of games currently being preserved. less than 15% across ALL game libraries of ALL platforms.
the video game industry SUPPORTS and fights to maintain THAT status quo.
they do not WANT anyone to have access to or play old video games for ANY reason and RARELY provide a legal means to do so unless they stand to profit in some way and WANT that bit of money.
the laws people like to quote when defending the actions of these companies are the very laws these companies use to prevent you from legally playing old video games.
"but they're within their rights to..."
yes...they are within their rights to erase over 85% of gaming history and fight AGAINST all attempts at preserving that history in a way that not only keeps it around for but also allows future audiences to play those old games.
it is illegal to play pretty much all games released...3+ generations ago that are not being sold in physical form or via digital storefront.
and yet gamers DEFEND this.
as for fan projects. we're at the point where "so, how long until your C&D arrives in the mail?" is a serious, unironic, question for ALL fans of video games.
and people continue to defend this.
every single time ANY fan game or other project outside of artwork (or nsfw content) starts being made using any of nintendo's first party IP's... that project is on a ticking timer until it's killed via C&D. the best possible situation for such a project is if those working on it do everything they possibly can to maintain absolute silence and secrecy about the project until it's finished because the faintest of whispers could lead to nintendo C&Ding it.
and people will defend this.
there is no reasonable or rational defense left for these companies. there's no moral or ethical high ground left for them.
gamers only stand to SUFFER and gamers silence any dissenting voices or opinions FOR these companies.
@treos I'm not "defending" the companies. It's simply giving a factual answer why stuff gets C&D. That's just how the world works, whether we like it or not. Sorry if reality is not to your liking, I don't know what to tell you otherwise.
"WHO. GIVES. A. F?!" The lawyers.
I was super on-board with this fan project until they revealed their guest character plans, which ruined the entire thing for me, so it's actually a relief to see this get C&D'ed as a ClayFighter fan.
I mean, the equivalent would be like if someone wanted to bring back Castlevania but make Amy Schumer one of the main characters. It's just thematically so out-of-place that it's better off they make their own original game.
@treos Aww, bless you, thank you ^_^
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