Popular Smash Bros. Mod "Project M" Immediately Halts Development

[Arnoxthe1]

The reason is most likely because the theory of Ninty having something to do with it hasn't entirely been confirmed yet. Maybe they did can it. Maybe the PM develpers just want to move on to another project. Maybe Ninty ate them and now they have jobs there. No one truly knows at this point, it's mostly just guess work.

And in any case, this news doesn't mean the mod has been killed, it means that the developers will no longer be updating it. Like I said in my earlier post, Project M will never die, because it's already being circulated.

Yes, they totally wanted to move on. Which is why they shut down all official download channels, killed all the official videos and screenshots, and shut down the ENTIRE forum and site and all their years of hard work without ANY prior notice whatsofreakingever, and the goodbye page points to an attorney for any further inquiries... This has legal action WRITTEN ALL OVER IT. Heck, just google "Project M" and look around a bit. You'll see a bunch of leaks including the then-about-to-be-released 3.61 version as well. They totally did NOT want to do this.

Nintendo stepped in and decided to be bitches. That's what it is. I don't blame the PM team in the slightest. They did what they had to do. Nintendo got all pouty and decided to be a fucking asshole. No if's, and's, or but's about it. I'd stake solid money on it.

again to Nintendo.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Not to mention, I'm sure the modders here were doing this for a fucking living and now, they're out of work because of Nintendo. And no one even bats an eyelash.

Thats not exactly legal, you know. I don't think there's ever been a case that went to court but there's definitely a lot of gray area for people getting paid for making mods, whether the mods have a cost to download or there's some sort of donation process to the creator. Patreon itself is a whole other category where it could be fairly said that they're being to make mods of a property that they don't own, especially if they include donation awards that are mod content. Thats the same reason that Patreon artists are getting in hot water over Rule 34 creations.

Yes, they totally wanted to move on. Which is why they shut down all official download channels, killed all the official videos and screenshots, and shut down the ENTIRE forum and site and all their years of hard work without ANY prior notice whatsofreakingever

While I'm of the mindset that Nintendo lawyers probably were involved I should point out that even if this was voluntary they have a good reason to shut the project down and all of its materials, as keeping it hosted will still make them vulnerable to lawsuit. Even if they weren't continuing to update it they would still be hosting it, possibly for some sort of profit. Its a smart move to cover their arses and if they actually gave a warning that they were shutting it down it potentially could show up as evidence against them in a court case later on.

The question isn't if what the PM team did is strictly legal. Copyright law is super murky and sometimes super stupid which favors the companies. Nevertheless, the mod was strictly free. No one had to pay a cent for it. The question isn't whether Nintendo CAN sue them. It's whether they should. And they DEFINITELY should not have. It was super douchey of them to do. The community may survive through this but it's just been dealt a serious blow. Of which blow Nintendo should never have thrown.

And really, what good does this do at all in an even strictly cold calculating sense? Do they honestly think fans of PM are just going to shrug and start buying more Nintendo products? No! They're gonna fucking rage. And they should. It wasn't doing any harm to Nintendo. A lot of PM fans were actually fans who bought the new SSB too. So no real business was lost... And normal SSB fans were fine with PM and just left it alone.

Look, Nintendo didn't need to do this. It was a dick move. They shattered a community and bust apart an amazing dev team with serious talent. That's all there is to it. And I don't know about everyone else but I'm doing my own personal boycott.

 

[Souplex]

I played Project M shortly after Samus was released. It was leagues better than Brawl, and lightyears ahead of Melee, but I don't see the point. I have Smash Bros.: Rumble (In the Bronx) on my 3DS, and that's honestly much better than Project M.
Hell, I can even use my 3DS as a controller if I want the ideal control scheme when playing Smash Bros.: Rumble (In the Jungle) on my friend's WiiU. Project M just doesn't have a reason to exist anymore.

 

[Mortuorum]

Yes, they totally wanted to move on. Which is why they shut down all official download channels, killed all the official videos and screenshots, and shut down the ENTIRE forum and site and all their years of hard work without ANY prior notice whatsofreakingever, and the goodbye page points to an attorney for any further inquiries... This has legal action WRITTEN ALL OVER IT. Heck, just google "Project M" and look around a bit. You'll see a bunch of leaks including the then-about-to-be-released 3.61 version as well. They totally did NOT want to do this.

Nintendo stepped in and decided to be bitches. That's what it is. I don't blame the PM team in the slightest. They did what they had to do. Nintendo got all pouty and decided to be a fucking asshole. No if's, and's, or but's about it. I'd stake solid money on it.

again to Nintendo.

For what it's worth, your interpretation seems likely to me as well. If they weren't acting under some sort of duress, they would have provided at minimum a link to the code in development. And the fact that the only contact information provided is an attorney only reinforces that conclusion.

Fortunately, the code is widely-enough circulated at this point that a new development community will (hopefully) rise from the ashes and carry on the project.

 

[Arnoxthe1]

Fortunately, the code is widely-enough circulated at this point that a new development community will (hopefully) rise from the ashes and carry on the project.

Well... Believe it or not, this actually could be a good thing for the PM community. As it was, the PM team often put out balance patches at a steady rate. This unfortunately though had the problem of not allowing the meta game to grow at all. But now that development has finally stopped, that can start now, uninhibited by anymore big changes to the balance.

However, I am for one more build to be released. A bug fix build that could possibly have more alt costumes for the characters. That's really about it though and I also think that we should wait for even that before we release it.