Square Enix Takes Down Fan Translation for Final Fantasy Type-0

[MrPete1985]

It seems like all big game developers hate their fans lately.  For everyone that does not know Final Fantasy Type-0 is a Japan exclusive released for the PSP on October 27, 2011.  Just like most other Japan exclusive RPGs fans decided to translate it on their own.  However once the patch was released Square Enix decided to threaten legal action and now the patch is gone.  The hacker Sky wrote in his blog:

 

 

Unfortunately I’m forced to remove my posts and pages related to the popular Final Fantasy Type-0 fan translation project. That’s right, certain game company thinks that threats and false accusations are the way to treat its biggest fans. For the time being I can’t answer questions related to this matter, but I’ll write a more comprehensive post about all this once I get the chance.

 

 

However Square has announced that they will bring an HD port to PS4 and Xbox One for their English speaking players.

 

Square what happened to you, you used to be cool.  Square has had two and a half years to localize the game into English, if you do not want the fans to do it then stop dragging your feet and if you are worried about not making the money back on the cost of localizing the game then let the fans pay the bill.  Using a crowd funding option for localizing games that you are not sure if a particular market will enjoy is a great alternative, launch a kickstarted and tell the fans: "the game is completed and we are not sure if your part of the world will enjoy it.  Help us pay for the localization cost so we can release this game in your language."

 

Source: Sky's Blog

Source: Final Fantasy Type-0 HD Port

[mvitkun]

I wonder why they haven't, and hope they don't, do the same for the patches created for Kingdom Hearts 1 and 2 Final Mix.

[ComradeHX]

Square Enix went full retard.

 

Now people will be downloading patched illegal version from a certain bay of pirates instead.

 

I think they were also the last ones to troll youtubers by copyright claims.

[MrPete1985]

Also lets not forget this is not the first time Square has done something like this, they sent a C&D letter to the devs of Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes and Chrono Trigger: Resurrection.

[Imaginaerum]

I don't get it, what's bad about Sqeenix stopping someone from translating and releasing a game that that person doesn't own? Were those people going to charge for the translated version then send the money through Paypal to Squeenix or were they just going to give it away for free?

 

I don't like Square that much, I think they take ridiculously long for games that really don't feel (or play) like 10 year development cycle games, but this isn't something I'll blame them for or disagree with them with. The game is their property and that is the end of it as far as they're concerned.

[Misanthrope]

I don't get it, what's bad about Sqeenix stopping someone from translating and releasing a game that that person doesn't own? Were those people going to charge for the translated version then send the money through Paypal to Squeenix or were they just going to give it away for free?

 

I don't like Square that much, I think they take ridiculously long for games that really don't feel (or play) like 10 year development cycle games, but this isn't something I'll blame them for or disagree with them with. The game is their property and that is the end of it as far as they're concerned.

 

Not quite: Once you buy the game you can do whatever the fuck you want with it. As long as the modders acquire the japanese version of the game they can mod it all they want. The only legal beef is distributing the results of the work which is why they request the game to be taken down, but even then it's mostly a grey area and flatout legal in many jurisdiction, if they weren't fans they would just reply "Fuck you" to Square and launch it on pirate bay instead and good luck getting the translation off there.

[mvitkun]

I don't get it, what's bad about Sqeenix stopping someone from translating and releasing a game that that person doesn't own? Were those people going to charge for the translated version then send the money through Paypal to Squeenix or were they just going to give it away for free?

 

I don't like Square that much, I think they take ridiculously long for games that really don't feel (or play) like 10 year development cycle games, but this isn't something I'll blame them for or disagree with them with. The game is their property and that is the end of it as far as they're concerned.

Well the modder, sky, offers a free patch for the game so that people who want to play the game but don't speak Japanese can do so.

 

In the same way the any update would it requires that you already have the game, SE still profits at this point.

The modder was not requesting any money for any of his projects, he does have an option to donate to support him in general so that he might continue to make other mods, but he does not ask for any money in exchange for any specific project.

So essentially he's asking for a handout if you so thoroughly enjoyed his work, same as somebody performing in the streets who would usually use copyrighted music to enhance their work.

He isn't distributing a translated version of the game, but rather distributing a a free mod, like a texture pack, that provides a better or different experience while playing the game.

 

SE didn't like the project because the Japanese version is less than easy to acquire in other places of the world, so a majority of people are downloading it illegally.

Thus SE decided that rather than try to prevent people from downloading their game illegally they would prevent it from being playable for those people who do not speak Japanese, and by doing so reduce the number of people who download the game illegally. 

[Imaginaerum]

Not quite: Once you buy the game you can do whatever the fuck you want with it. As long as the modders acquire the japanese version of the game they can mod it all they want. The only legal beef is distributing the results of the work which is why they request the game to be taken down, but even then it's mostly a grey area and flatout legal in many jurisdiction, if they weren't fans they would just reply "Fuck you" to Square and launch it on pirate bay instead and good luck getting the translation off there.

Yes that was what I meant, the copying and distributing part. Sounds like all lawyer anti-piracy tactics to me, not because Square didn't want an English version created. I'm sure they'll get around to it during the next eon or so.

[Imaginaerum]

Well the modder, sky, offers a patch for the game so that people who want to play the game but don't speak Japanese can do so.

 

In the same way the any update would it requires that you already have the game, SE still profits at this point.

The modder was not requesting any money for any of his projects, he does have an option to donate to support him in general so that he might continue to make other mods, but he does not ask for any money in exchange for any specific project.

So essentially he's asking for a handout if you so thoroughly enjoyed his work, same as somebody performing in the streets.

 

SE didn't like the project because the Japanese version is less than easy to acquire in other places of the world, so a majority of people are downloading it illegally.

Thus SE decided that rather than try to prevent people from downloading their game illegally they would prevent it from being playable for those people who do not speak Japanese, and by doing so reduce the number of people who download the game illegally. 

Ah. Had no idea how it worked, it wasn't clear on the links I read or maybe I skipped a sentence. If they own the game and it's just a patch then Squeenix you are making no sense like usual.

[Crt]

Square also stopped the fanmade Chrono Trigger remake. Had a 3D Engine, it's own code and remixed soundtrack and what not. Square decides to do cease and desist and never made a sequel or a remake for the Chrono series and instead, gave us ports of the original game with a few goodies and release a DRM-version of the game on mobile platforms.

[TrekonBT]

This is seriously disappointing. I was closely following this translation patch until sky went quiet recently, then all of a sudden they threaten him? As a fan I'm sure he would have willing closed the project if they'd just asked politely, or at least I would have as a fan, myself, looking forward to playing the game.

[Toxiclegend]

When Square (and Squaresoft)  became Square Enix it went down hill.

[MrPete1985]

Not quite: Once you buy the game you can do whatever the fuck you want with it.

Not true, if you read the EULA in the manual it forbids modifying the game in any way.

 

I believe Square could have handled this better by offering a license to Sky or asking Sky to stop because of the HD port rather than sending the lawyers.

[Misanthrope]

Not true, if you read the EULA in the manual it forbids modifying the game in any way.

 

I believe Square could have handled this better by offering a license to Sky or asking Sky to stop because of the HD port rather than sending the lawyers.

 

An EULA is not a legally binding contract in all cases despite of what it says and more important, depending on your jurisdiction. There's certain rights you can't be made to give up no matter how much Square wants you to.

At most, translation teams would have trouble distributing the patch on a server without it being taken down but like I said, if they weren't fans they would easily find domains and places that would laugh at DMCA takedown notices.

[StingBull]

Square Enix went full retard.

 

You spelled retard twice there. All you had to say was Square Enix being Square Enix.

[azurezeed]

good i downloaded the patch the fist day of realease, why Square Enix? the psp version isn's coming out for westerns so...

[ZeroBreaker]

isn't this perfectly reasonable? They are localising the game themselves, as they have announced, and therefore there is no reason for the fan patch to be up any more. The guys who did the translation for steins;gate come to mind, they specifically said if it was localised they would take it down (because then they could support the developers), and it was. Square enix is responding to the demand, nothing more and nothing less.

Never forget the absolute mess PSP was when it came to piracy. This is a perfectly sensible thing to do.