In Febrary 21, 1986, Nintendo released the first Legend of Zelda game in Japan and a few weeks ago, we celebrated its 30th anniversary. A few days ago — on April 4th — Zelda fans Scott and Mike published their fan made game Zelda30Tribute online. Their intentions were mainly let fans relive the original Legend of Zelda experience and celebrate the anniversary. However, Nintendo had asked them to remove their content, deeming it copyright infringement.
The creators complied, but have stated that they still have Zelda30Tribute‘s codes which they will upload to Github — a source code management site that allows programmers to share their work with others. This way, players can still check out the tribute.
Zelda30Tribute got half million of plays in a few days but they still respected the request of Nintendo.
This is not the first time Nintendo have accused their fans of copyright infringement. In 2013, Nintendo had filed a “mass claim” against YouTuber’s whose videos included clips of their games. This kind of activity can have a negative impact on marketing and public relations for Nintendo as it upsets the fans.
