Do you remember that a while back when a group of fans resurrected Imagine Online with a launcher named Rekuiemu Games? These talented fellas created its website and servers mimicking the original game and allowing fans to play Shin Megami Tensei. The game was first released in North America and Europe in 2008 and 2009. However, in 2016, Atlus decided to shut down the game’s servers.
Well, now Japanese developer and publisher is suing fans who hosted their servers for the long-closed MMO.
Found on a post via Twitter, Atlus first filed the lawsuit in December 2021. But a recent finding showed that the defendants behind the fan-made REimagine project had been summoned to appear in court.
damn wait this wasnt a prank at all atlus really is suing the imagine fan server pic.twitter.com/UBeoobSlTF
— Marsh (@MarshSMT) September 26, 2022
It’s well-known that fan-made servers for closed MMOs are not that rare. Nevertheless, Atlus stated in court docs that the fans behind REimagine “have caused and will continue to cause irreparable damage to Atlus unless restrained by this Court.” The lawsuit seeks the total shutdown of all websites and servers related to the fan project and up to $25,000 per violation decided by the court.
According to Eurogamer, one potential challenge Atlus will have to overcome are protections introduced by the US Copyright Office in 2018, which allow archivists to break DRM security to preserve online games. However, these protections technically concern museums or archivists and not public emulators.
What are your thoughts about games and their preservation through time? Let us know in the comment section!
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