I think it is because the game could potentially conflict with their other video game property. Or at least, you could make the argument. Why play our pony game when you can play their pony game for free and no way for revenue to get back to us?
Sorry to butt in, but I kinda disagree with this. It's an awful reason- unless literally the same game already exists, it makes no sense. Like I would understand this if Hasbro was about to release a fighting game and suddenly noticed this fan project, yeah.
But saying 'making a game at all means you're distracting people from the totally-different official games'? That's a ridiculous statement that annoyingly only ever gets used for stuff like this. It makes NO SENSE if you snowclone it onto anything else.
Don't draw fan comics, it'll steal readers from the real comic!
Don't make your own figurines, it'll mean noone buys the real ones!
Don't make your own music, people will suddenly start muting the show and playing yours!
The MLP fandom is already ridiculously active with fanworks and if it was gonna somehow LOSE fans because of this, there would already be evidence for it. On the contrary it seems like all this widely-ranging creativity is drawing in lovers of art to come see the show and throw money at Hasbro.
Oh wait! One more ridiculous snowclone!
Don't make your own soup, it'll put Heinz out of business! After all why would you buy it if you can make it yourself??
Sorry if this sounds rude or anything, I just think people need a better argument to warrant shooting down an epic game project..
But saying 'making a game at all means you're distracting people from the totally-different official games'? That's a ridiculous statement that annoyingly only ever gets used for stuff like this. It makes NO SENSE if you snowclone it onto anything else.
Don't draw fan comics, it'll steal readers from the real comic!
Don't make your own figurines, it'll mean noone buys the real ones!
Don't make your own music, people will suddenly start muting the show and playing yours!
The MLP fandom is already ridiculously active with fanworks and if it was gonna somehow LOSE fans because of this, there would already be evidence for it. On the contrary it seems like all this widely-ranging creativity is drawing in lovers of art to come see the show and throw money at Hasbro.
Oh wait! One more ridiculous snowclone!
Don't make your own soup, it'll put Heinz out of business! After all why would you buy it if you can make it yourself??
Sorry if this sounds rude or anything, I just think people need a better argument to warrant shooting down an epic game project..
Hey, I can't do anything about it, I'm just following the line of logic that might have occurred.
And if I do remember my copyright laws correctly, if you do not protect your rights in _some_ cases (copyright is confusing sometimes) you can lose them entirely. That might have been what happened also.
And if I do remember my copyright laws correctly, if you do not protect your rights in _some_ cases (copyright is confusing sometimes) you can lose them entirely. That might have been what happened also.
Well it doesn't make sense to me, sadly 
*shrug* Guess the fandom will just have to live with this decision!
It is kinda frustrating that we'll never know exactly what the reason is and instead we're just stuck arguing over possibilities XD
*shrug* Guess the fandom will just have to live with this decision!It is kinda frustrating that we'll never know exactly what the reason is and instead we're just stuck arguing over possibilities XD
Stuck arguing? Why?
It is over whatever it was. Be free. Be sure that you have neither lost nor gained anything in this fight.
It is over whatever it was. Be free. Be sure that you have neither lost nor gained anything in this fight.
I meant that in a general sense, as in "I assume people in the fandom are arguing similarly to this, and alas we shall never know what the real reason is."
I'm actually not even an MLP fan and I was just joining in with the conversation cos I found it interesting No emotional investment here! 
I'm fine with not winning, it was a good fight XD
I'm actually not even an MLP fan and I was just joining in with the conversation cos I found it interesting
No emotional investment here! I'm fine with not winning, it was a good fight XDFrom what I've seen in these comments just now you look like the sort who likes to fight and argue whether or not you have anything riding on it or not. I encourage you to find more fruitful endeavors. Don't argue for the sake of it. " Have nothing to do with stupid and senseless controversies; you know that they breed quarrels."
No, I like to debate interesting topics and I don't think that a person requires something at stake to have a sense of morality and think "Hey wait, this doesn't make sense to me!"
It was a very enjoyable discussion and now I understand different people's viewpoints even if I don't agree, so why should I regret that? Whoever said that quote is misguided, sorry. Noone will ever progress if they never try and understand things, beliefs are more sure if they stand up to questioning, and there isn't some arbitrary categorization of how "serious" or "intelligent" an argument has to be before you are allowed to speak it.
However I think "I'm allowed to argue" is kinda actually a dumb argument so I'll surrender now XD Thanks for an interesting talk, hope I didn't offend at any point!
It was a very enjoyable discussion and now I understand different people's viewpoints even if I don't agree, so why should I regret that? Whoever said that quote is misguided, sorry. Noone will ever progress if they never try and understand things, beliefs are more sure if they stand up to questioning, and there isn't some arbitrary categorization of how "serious" or "intelligent" an argument has to be before you are allowed to speak it.
However I think "I'm allowed to argue" is kinda actually a dumb argument so I'll surrender now XD Thanks for an interesting talk, hope I didn't offend at any point!
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I think the other thing to be aware of is that it's probably not the best light to shine on their IP. Hasbro's main market is elementary-age girls.
I have no idea what Fighting is Magic was going to be about, but really, with a title like that, would you want that sort of thing on the internet? It sounds (to me) like it would pit the Mane 6 against each other to duke it out, which is completely counter to the morals of the show (Be Friends, But it Might Be Hard Work).
I have no idea what Fighting is Magic was going to be about, but really, with a title like that, would you want that sort of thing on the internet? It sounds (to me) like it would pit the Mane 6 against each other to duke it out, which is completely counter to the morals of the show (Be Friends, But it Might Be Hard Work).
Dude, don't be sexist. The show has never been 'strictly girls only' and never been wimpy because the primary audience is girls. Girls can like fighting games, and many fighting games are geared towards children, such as this is. Fighting Is Magic is a totally kid friendly sort of battler with no blood or whatever- why would anyone object to children seeing that?
Also it's pretty well known that this show is loved by people of all ages, especially adult men. And Hasbro has repeatedly aknowledged the "brony" community and made it clear that they have no intention of making some big push to go "NO THIS IS ONLY FOR YOUNG GIRLS, YOU CAN'T WATCH". They've made loads of injokes and stuff specifically for the older audience, so I doubt they'd suddenly turn around and say 'oh noes, something that makes adults feel included! better nuke it!'
Also have you even watched the show? There is danger and fighting in it, what are you on about? How is fighting contrary to the 'message' when they commonly defeat big villains in epic showdowns of harmony laser beams?
Unless you mean specifically the fact that they're fighting EACH OTHER.. that is just total nonsense. Tie-in fighting games rarely have a plot, and without a plot noone is gonna look at the game and assume "OH NO THE MANE 6 ARE HURTING EACH OTHER OMG THEY'RE NOT FRIENDS ANYMORE". Noone rationalizes like that, they'd just think "oh look its a non canon totally plotless game where I can play as all the ponies".
There's been fighting games for TV shows before! There has NEVER been a news story about kids getting upset that the characters are fighting each other, or thinking it's equivelant to if they actually fought in 'real life'. Games are just imaginative play, the show is the actual canon- what happens in one isn't equal to the other. Sure, kids would probably be scarred forever if they were watching the show and Applejack suddenly started beating up Rarity, but who'd have a problem with some non-canon horsing about (pun not intended) where noone actually gets hurt and the only consequence of losing is losing some points?
If children took fighting games seriously then they'd freak out when they played a character against the same character, thinking there was some sort of evil plot to clone the mane cast!!1! Or in puzzle games they'd think that a bunch of bubbles or squares or whatever had suddenly fallen from the sky into Equestria and the ponies really were moving them around to make them dissappear, or else the world would be doomed. You gotta give kids more credit- they know the conventions of videogames And a game convention for mascot fighters is "characters fight but noone gets hurt and nothing really happens". There's TONS of these things for all sorts of cute and harmless shows that don't normally have battles, and noone has EVER decided to cancel one because it's 'too scary for kids to see the characters fighting their friends' or whatever.. there's a friggin SPONGEBOB fighting game!
So yeah in summary: I think that is a terrible excuse and probably not what Hasbro's reasons were. I think they probably DID think "oh noes somehow this will mean less sales of the real videogames", even though I don't agree that that would actually happen.
Sorry if I'm being rude here
Also it's pretty well known that this show is loved by people of all ages, especially adult men. And Hasbro has repeatedly aknowledged the "brony" community and made it clear that they have no intention of making some big push to go "NO THIS IS ONLY FOR YOUNG GIRLS, YOU CAN'T WATCH". They've made loads of injokes and stuff specifically for the older audience, so I doubt they'd suddenly turn around and say 'oh noes, something that makes adults feel included! better nuke it!'
Also have you even watched the show? There is danger and fighting in it, what are you on about? How is fighting contrary to the 'message' when they commonly defeat big villains in epic showdowns of harmony laser beams?
Unless you mean specifically the fact that they're fighting EACH OTHER.. that is just total nonsense. Tie-in fighting games rarely have a plot, and without a plot noone is gonna look at the game and assume "OH NO THE MANE 6 ARE HURTING EACH OTHER OMG THEY'RE NOT FRIENDS ANYMORE". Noone rationalizes like that, they'd just think "oh look its a non canon totally plotless game where I can play as all the ponies".
There's been fighting games for TV shows before! There has NEVER been a news story about kids getting upset that the characters are fighting each other, or thinking it's equivelant to if they actually fought in 'real life'. Games are just imaginative play, the show is the actual canon- what happens in one isn't equal to the other. Sure, kids would probably be scarred forever if they were watching the show and Applejack suddenly started beating up Rarity, but who'd have a problem with some non-canon horsing about (pun not intended) where noone actually gets hurt and the only consequence of losing is losing some points?
If children took fighting games seriously then they'd freak out when they played a character against the same character, thinking there was some sort of evil plot to clone the mane cast!!1! Or in puzzle games they'd think that a bunch of bubbles or squares or whatever had suddenly fallen from the sky into Equestria and the ponies really were moving them around to make them dissappear, or else the world would be doomed. You gotta give kids more credit- they know the conventions of videogames
And a game convention for mascot fighters is "characters fight but noone gets hurt and nothing really happens". There's TONS of these things for all sorts of cute and harmless shows that don't normally have battles, and noone has EVER decided to cancel one because it's 'too scary for kids to see the characters fighting their friends' or whatever.. there's a friggin SPONGEBOB fighting game!So yeah in summary: I think that is a terrible excuse and probably not what Hasbro's reasons were. I think they probably DID think "oh noes somehow this will mean less sales of the real videogames", even though I don't agree that that would actually happen.
Sorry if I'm being rude here
I'm not being sexist. The franchise from the 80s has been targeted at 7 year-old GIRLS. That's why most of the characters have shades of PINK in them. MLP: FiM is a different animal, more willing to bring in an adult audience, but I teach pre-school, and while the boys like the show equally much, I think we can both agree that the age group targeted by the franchise in all its incarnations is not one that should be exposed to the questions of why are allegedly BFFs up in arms at each other?
'Kid-friendly' is a broad term. Would you consider a bloodless battler that introduces moral quandries undermining the message of friendship to a five-year-old? I wouldn't. Granted, I don't think 5 y/os should be on the internet, but I have lots of stories from kids at work who tell me about the sorts of things they watch with Daddy or Mommy on the computer.
I am speaking from the viewpoint of a child. As an adult, yes, we can reason that there are no problems with this. As a child, it is confusing. It's like hearing mommy and daddy yelling about something from the other room and thinking everyone hates each other and their little worlds are going to fall apart. Children are highly attached to their fandoms, especially ones where the main ploy of it is to teach a difficult life-skill (being friends without killing each other every 30 seconds and accepting each others' differences).
'Kid-friendly' is a broad term. Would you consider a bloodless battler that introduces moral quandries undermining the message of friendship to a five-year-old? I wouldn't. Granted, I don't think 5 y/os should be on the internet, but I have lots of stories from kids at work who tell me about the sorts of things they watch with Daddy or Mommy on the computer.
I am speaking from the viewpoint of a child. As an adult, yes, we can reason that there are no problems with this. As a child, it is confusing. It's like hearing mommy and daddy yelling about something from the other room and thinking everyone hates each other and their little worlds are going to fall apart. Children are highly attached to their fandoms, especially ones where the main ploy of it is to teach a difficult life-skill (being friends without killing each other every 30 seconds and accepting each others' differences).
I didn't say you were sexist for saying it's aimed at girls, because it is. Sorry for the confusion! I meant that it sounded like you were saying girls's franchises can't have fighting games because girls don't like them o.o
LOLLLL "most of the characters have shades of pink". Sorry, but what? out of the mane cast one of them is pink, two have pink highlights. That isn't most. I'm not arguing that it isn't a girl show, but just.. that is innacurate, sorry. I could just as easily point out that there is yellow and blue and purple on three ponies. Even back in the 80s most of the ponies were not pink, they just tended to have pink accessories and outfits.
Also the 80s franchise was an adventure show with way more scary moments and fighting than the current one, so I don't get your point. Yep, for girls. Nope, not anti-fighting.
Would you let a 5 year old child buy a Spongebob fighting game? A Fairly Odd Parents fighting game? Despite the fact that neither show contains the friends fighting each other, and Fairly Odd Parents has lots of friendship and family messages. Ohmigod, Cosmo and Wanda are fighting?? Nuuu! But they're married!!!
I'm just saying that it's very nieve to think that a child cannot understand that games are different to stories. There has never ever been a case of any child ever being scared by a 'mascot fighter' game and it's not gonna suddenly start merely because the franchise is a GIRLS one.
If anything it's even less likely a child will think about it.. because they are a child. Children don't overthink games, they don't worry what the story is, they just do whatever the game says is the fun bit. They don't go "oh why am I collecting all these guys to open a door? why did bowser kidnap princess peach?" They don't need reasons and story and logic, they are not likely to assume that the game is a story about Applejack and Fluttershy hurting each other, they're just gonna think "this is what I do in the game". And again- its bloodless and noone is ever hurt. It's a game. It's play-fighting. KIDS ACTUALLY DO THAT. Yes, even girls do!
Defeated ponies just look dissappointed that they didn't win, there is zero consequence and zero moral quandary unless you overthink things.
Sorry, I just cannot understand your viewpoint and if I ever had kids myself I wouldn't be so overprotective. No offense intended! I'm sure it's totally your right to choose what to show your kids, I just think that even if this was true, it'd be a bit extreme to ban the game from being played, rather than simply choosing to not give it to your kids.
And I highly highly doubt this was Hasbro's motivation here. When many TV show companies keep churning out cheap licensed mascot fighters with no complaint, and noone ever cancelling them because of this moral quandary thing.
Plus this is a fan product, which could totally have been intended for adults. Hasbro has never made any effort to stop adults from enjoying the program, or cut out things that can appeal to adults. So I doubt they'd suddenly go "oh no, adults are making an adult fanwork!"
I'm pretty damn sure the only reason for this was the "maybe it'll mean people don't play the official games" justification.
LOLLLL "most of the characters have shades of pink". Sorry, but what? out of the mane cast one of them is pink, two have pink highlights. That isn't most. I'm not arguing that it isn't a girl show, but just.. that is innacurate, sorry. I could just as easily point out that there is yellow and blue and purple on three ponies. Even back in the 80s most of the ponies were not pink, they just tended to have pink accessories and outfits.
Also the 80s franchise was an adventure show with way more scary moments and fighting than the current one, so I don't get your point. Yep, for girls. Nope, not anti-fighting.
Would you let a 5 year old child buy a Spongebob fighting game? A Fairly Odd Parents fighting game? Despite the fact that neither show contains the friends fighting each other, and Fairly Odd Parents has lots of friendship and family messages. Ohmigod, Cosmo and Wanda are fighting?? Nuuu! But they're married!!!
I'm just saying that it's very nieve to think that a child cannot understand that games are different to stories. There has never ever been a case of any child ever being scared by a 'mascot fighter' game and it's not gonna suddenly start merely because the franchise is a GIRLS one.
If anything it's even less likely a child will think about it.. because they are a child. Children don't overthink games, they don't worry what the story is, they just do whatever the game says is the fun bit. They don't go "oh why am I collecting all these guys to open a door? why did bowser kidnap princess peach?" They don't need reasons and story and logic, they are not likely to assume that the game is a story about Applejack and Fluttershy hurting each other, they're just gonna think "this is what I do in the game". And again- its bloodless and noone is ever hurt. It's a game. It's play-fighting. KIDS ACTUALLY DO THAT. Yes, even girls do!
Defeated ponies just look dissappointed that they didn't win, there is zero consequence and zero moral quandary unless you overthink things.
Sorry, I just cannot understand your viewpoint and if I ever had kids myself I wouldn't be so overprotective. No offense intended! I'm sure it's totally your right to choose what to show your kids, I just think that even if this was true, it'd be a bit extreme to ban the game from being played, rather than simply choosing to not give it to your kids.
And I highly highly doubt this was Hasbro's motivation here. When many TV show companies keep churning out cheap licensed mascot fighters with no complaint, and noone ever cancelling them because of this moral quandary thing.
Plus this is a fan product, which could totally have been intended for adults. Hasbro has never made any effort to stop adults from enjoying the program, or cut out things that can appeal to adults. So I doubt they'd suddenly go "oh no, adults are making an adult fanwork!"
I'm pretty damn sure the only reason for this was the "maybe it'll mean people don't play the official games" justification.
My point isn't that girls can't be into fighting games. I'm a girl - I love fighters. My point is that a fighter DIRECTLY OPPOSES the message of the show.
The cast of MLP:FiM struggles to reach mature solutions to complex problems without resulting to violence. Yes, there are episodes where there is violence (Royal Wedding is rife with it), but it is defensive violence. It is standing up to protect something, it is never putting the cast as the aggressors unless it's to show them in a negative light and learning from their mistakes.
Spongebob is about mayhem. Fairly Odd Parents is Wish-fulfillment. MLP:FiM is about MAKING FRIENDS. Do you pommel people you want to be friends with? No.
Children don't need to overthink things. They take the messages at face-value even if they're not aware of them. In a 12-month period, I am exposed to at least 150 children ages 3 - 12. You can tell by their behavior what the morals and exposure they are given by their parents.
Just saying 'kids are able to tell the difference' doesn't make it true. Some kids can't. And some parents are too lazy to research a thing and determine whether it's a good fit for their family. Some parents say "Hey, I found this pony game online. I guess my kid can play that."
Direct opposition.
I'm not saying that it's not also a marketing decision, and it's not also a big message to all the bronies out there to put them in their place. I'm saying that there's also an altruistic motivation possible.
The cast of MLP:FiM struggles to reach mature solutions to complex problems without resulting to violence. Yes, there are episodes where there is violence (Royal Wedding is rife with it), but it is defensive violence. It is standing up to protect something, it is never putting the cast as the aggressors unless it's to show them in a negative light and learning from their mistakes.
Spongebob is about mayhem. Fairly Odd Parents is Wish-fulfillment. MLP:FiM is about MAKING FRIENDS. Do you pommel people you want to be friends with? No.
Children don't need to overthink things. They take the messages at face-value even if they're not aware of them. In a 12-month period, I am exposed to at least 150 children ages 3 - 12. You can tell by their behavior what the morals and exposure they are given by their parents.
Just saying 'kids are able to tell the difference' doesn't make it true. Some kids can't. And some parents are too lazy to research a thing and determine whether it's a good fit for their family. Some parents say "Hey, I found this pony game online. I guess my kid can play that."
Direct opposition.
I'm not saying that it's not also a marketing decision, and it's not also a big message to all the bronies out there to put them in their place. I'm saying that there's also an altruistic motivation possible.
Well it all sounds really silly to me and I doubt such a thing would ever happen. I understand a parent being cautious like this but I just doubt Hasbro themselves would think of this when many childrens's shows in the past have done it with no controversy and there has just.. seriously, NEVER been a single complaint about kids being all "oh noes, they're fighting when they're friends in the show"
Fairly odd parents is constantly about how reckless wishes can cause mayhem- every single one of them always goes wrong and has to be fixed at the end, with some sort of moral to be learned. It's not ABOUT making friends, but its about not being reckless and selfish, and everyone in it IS friends. Or family. And there's lots of individual episodes where the moral is being good to your friends/family. I can't understand why -by this logic- it isn't also horribly immoral and dangerous for Fairly Odd Parents fighter games to exist.
And these are ones made by Nickelodeon themselves, not an unaffiliated fan group of ADULTS. Even if Hasbro thought Fighting is Magic would be a bad influence for children, what authority do they have to go "well obviously this MUST be for children and we're going to stop you from making it, even though that'd be stooping to the level of acting like thought police"
I'm not saying your points aren't valid, it just sounds like this is something that parents should decide themselves, and if Hasbro had indeed butted in and crushed people's freedom of expression just because children MIGHT view a product that's vaguely against the message of the show.. well that would just seem like a giant overreaction.
And still, personally if the subject was about my own potential children, I wouldn't judge the game as unsuitable as long as they're not really young. I'd say 7 is an okay age to view fantasy violence while comprehending the fact that it's still not acceptable in real life. And I'd definately look over any game before I gave it to my child, I wouldn't be a 'oh look a pony game, it must be harmless' sort of parent. But that'd be my own choice and I wouldn't go up to other parents and tell them to follow my philosophy, which is why i think if Hasbro did that, then it'd be a bit extreme.
It just sounds like the equivelant of something like Walmart deciding to not stock baby formula because thier moral stance is that breastfeeding is the only way to look after a child properly and anything else would scar them for life. It's a valid opinion and on its own it isn't harming anyone, and may even be true. But they'd be inflating the importance of such a decision and going way overboard in thier attempts to make other people agree.
So if this was Hasbro's reason: it's a terrible reason to do such a thing.
If it wasn't.. then I still have no idea what thier reason is, other than worrying too much about losing money. Its still a bit of a dick move in my opinion. *shrug*
Fairly odd parents is constantly about how reckless wishes can cause mayhem- every single one of them always goes wrong and has to be fixed at the end, with some sort of moral to be learned. It's not ABOUT making friends, but its about not being reckless and selfish, and everyone in it IS friends. Or family. And there's lots of individual episodes where the moral is being good to your friends/family. I can't understand why -by this logic- it isn't also horribly immoral and dangerous for Fairly Odd Parents fighter games to exist.
And these are ones made by Nickelodeon themselves, not an unaffiliated fan group of ADULTS. Even if Hasbro thought Fighting is Magic would be a bad influence for children, what authority do they have to go "well obviously this MUST be for children and we're going to stop you from making it, even though that'd be stooping to the level of acting like thought police"
I'm not saying your points aren't valid, it just sounds like this is something that parents should decide themselves, and if Hasbro had indeed butted in and crushed people's freedom of expression just because children MIGHT view a product that's vaguely against the message of the show.. well that would just seem like a giant overreaction.
And still, personally if the subject was about my own potential children, I wouldn't judge the game as unsuitable as long as they're not really young. I'd say 7 is an okay age to view fantasy violence while comprehending the fact that it's still not acceptable in real life. And I'd definately look over any game before I gave it to my child, I wouldn't be a 'oh look a pony game, it must be harmless' sort of parent. But that'd be my own choice and I wouldn't go up to other parents and tell them to follow my philosophy, which is why i think if Hasbro did that, then it'd be a bit extreme.
It just sounds like the equivelant of something like Walmart deciding to not stock baby formula because thier moral stance is that breastfeeding is the only way to look after a child properly and anything else would scar them for life. It's a valid opinion and on its own it isn't harming anyone, and may even be true. But they'd be inflating the importance of such a decision and going way overboard in thier attempts to make other people agree.
So if this was Hasbro's reason: it's a terrible reason to do such a thing.
If it wasn't.. then I still have no idea what thier reason is, other than worrying too much about losing money. Its still a bit of a dick move in my opinion. *shrug*
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Its a difference when you are using THEIR CHARACTERS.
Wouldn't you be angry if you tried to sell your game, and people said "nah, Im gonna play this free one, it's better than yours and has all of your characters anyway!" Hasbro can't take chances that people will like Fighting is magic better than whatever they are making or going to make. If they are going to make a fighting game in the future, they don't want the audience to already be saturated with a mlp fighting game.
Wouldn't you be angry if you tried to sell your game, and people said "nah, Im gonna play this free one, it's better than yours and has all of your characters anyway!" Hasbro can't take chances that people will like Fighting is magic better than whatever they are making or going to make. If they are going to make a fighting game in the future, they don't want the audience to already be saturated with a mlp fighting game.
Um no, please read what I said again. I was already responding to the same thing you just said. That is nonsense and jumping to bizzare conclusions.
Its exactly the same as forbidding people from drawing fan comics using the characters, because GOSH WHY WOULD ANYONE BUY THE REAL COMICS. Maybe Hasbro will make a comic in the future about Big Mac/Cheerilee love, but now they can't do that cos Big Mac/Cheerilee fans ALREADY MADE SEVERAL
I think it's utterly idiotic for Hasbro to even jump to the conclusion that the existance of non-Hasbro games will somehow distract people from the actual franchise.
Its exactly the same as forbidding people from drawing fan comics using the characters, because GOSH WHY WOULD ANYONE BUY THE REAL COMICS. Maybe Hasbro will make a comic in the future about Big Mac/Cheerilee love, but now they can't do that cos Big Mac/Cheerilee fans ALREADY MADE SEVERAL
I think it's utterly idiotic for Hasbro to even jump to the conclusion that the existance of non-Hasbro games will somehow distract people from the actual franchise.
WELL, think about it.
What if this happened to you?
You had your own tv series, you spent hours upon hours of time and effort to develop the character designs, plots, everything. You have all these plans for the future, all these games or whatever you could make. You can't start yet because you aren't sure how to make them, if people would buy them and whether you need to hire someone else.
Then one day, you find out that people have taken all of your characters and are making their own games. They didn't ask your permission, nor are they giving you anything for it. You can't be sure anymore if people would buy YOUR game, because the other peoples' game might be superior. You don't want to give your work away for free to these other people, because you don't want to bargain with thieves nor are you sure whether they would even agree to make it cost money.
Try to have some empathy, think of what Hasbro's management and employees have to consider and worry about.
What if this happened to you?
You had your own tv series, you spent hours upon hours of time and effort to develop the character designs, plots, everything. You have all these plans for the future, all these games or whatever you could make. You can't start yet because you aren't sure how to make them, if people would buy them and whether you need to hire someone else.
Then one day, you find out that people have taken all of your characters and are making their own games. They didn't ask your permission, nor are they giving you anything for it. You can't be sure anymore if people would buy YOUR game, because the other peoples' game might be superior. You don't want to give your work away for free to these other people, because you don't want to bargain with thieves nor are you sure whether they would even agree to make it cost money.
Try to have some empathy, think of what Hasbro's management and employees have to consider and worry about.
That's not how it works. This isn't stealing ideas before you use them, this is fanart.
I would not be an ungrateful prick if someone made me fanart, and I wouldn't make them ask for permission. And it would be selfish and cruel to bring the banhammer to them because "oh gosh what if the fanart is better?? then I won't get MORE fans!!"
You need to treat your fans well, geez.
And this isn't stealing anything! Its fucking FANART! Is it stealing to draw a picture of naruto and show it to people??
Try to have some empathy- think of the fact that the creators of the game put tons of work into celebrating their love of a series and sharing that love with fellow fans. Then hasbro came out of nowhere and told them that actually what they thought was a 'thank you' to the series was really THEFTTTTT and OMG HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?? I think it's highly HIGHLY unlikely that the game creators intended it to "steal revenue" from the company, any more than regualr fanartists think that their doodle of a character is gonna be better than the original show and bury the company in a shallow grave.
This is not a situation of "they stole something, they got punished". This is not a situation of "they plaigarized something". This is a situation of "they did something well-meaning without knowing it was against the rules, and got all their hard work destroyed."
Also if I ever became famous I would be FUCKING OVER THE MOON if someone wanted to make a fangame, even if I was already making games. I wouldn't be all creepy and self concious and crush it out of fear it'd be better than mine..
I would not be an ungrateful prick if someone made me fanart, and I wouldn't make them ask for permission. And it would be selfish and cruel to bring the banhammer to them because "oh gosh what if the fanart is better?? then I won't get MORE fans!!"
You need to treat your fans well, geez.
And this isn't stealing anything! Its fucking FANART! Is it stealing to draw a picture of naruto and show it to people??
Try to have some empathy- think of the fact that the creators of the game put tons of work into celebrating their love of a series and sharing that love with fellow fans. Then hasbro came out of nowhere and told them that actually what they thought was a 'thank you' to the series was really THEFTTTTT and OMG HOW COULD YOU DO THAT?? I think it's highly HIGHLY unlikely that the game creators intended it to "steal revenue" from the company, any more than regualr fanartists think that their doodle of a character is gonna be better than the original show and bury the company in a shallow grave.
This is not a situation of "they stole something, they got punished". This is not a situation of "they plaigarized something". This is a situation of "they did something well-meaning without knowing it was against the rules, and got all their hard work destroyed."
Also if I ever became famous I would be FUCKING OVER THE MOON if someone wanted to make a fangame, even if I was already making games. I wouldn't be all creepy and self concious and crush it out of fear it'd be better than mine..
I bet you would think differently when your livelihood depended on whether people buy your game or play someone else's game for free.
If you couldn't afford to fucking eat because your fans were using your content without your permission, I bet you wouldn't be half as gracious.
Obviously you haven't even thought about how important money is in this world. There are people who need to buy food, medicine, pay rent and shorten their loans with the money that Hasbro makes off MLP. They can't afford losing customers to a game some kids are giving away for free.
Im tired of explaining again and again, so I'll leave it here. Try to have some fucking empathy to the people who are actually losing money over things like this.
If you couldn't afford to fucking eat because your fans were using your content without your permission, I bet you wouldn't be half as gracious.
Obviously you haven't even thought about how important money is in this world. There are people who need to buy food, medicine, pay rent and shorten their loans with the money that Hasbro makes off MLP. They can't afford losing customers to a game some kids are giving away for free.
Im tired of explaining again and again, so I'll leave it here. Try to have some fucking empathy to the people who are actually losing money over things like this.
Hasbro is a giant company with shitloads of money already, they are not making a loss because of fans. There is no evidence they were going to make a loss because of this- they've never made a loss from PREVIOUS fangames that already exist. They don't make money from MLP games at all as far as I know, I've only ever seen official flash games so far. I do not get the point of this OH WOE IS ME THEY'D ALL STAAAAARVE overexaggeration.
Incidentely hahahaha oh god thanks for just assuming I don't know the value of money. I live in a homeless hostel due to being divorced from my entire family and financial support. I already LIVE the life of 'if I don't get my money this week, I have no savings to fall back on'. I understand the situation when jobs are lost. Please try not to jump to conclusions like that in the future, people don't have to be rich to not agree with corporate decisions and I wouldn't have assumed you were some disconnected millionaire yuppie either XD
I just DO NOT FUCKING BELIEVE that jobs would be lost over this. This is like the equivelant of Walmart being outpriced by another supermarket on soup or something, and then believing that that would lead to the sudden death of the entire corporate giant that already has cash to spare. Even *if* the very existance of YET ANOTHER fangame suddenly caused Hasbro to lose videogame sales, it wouldn't be a big enough loss to cause mass layoffs, so I feel that the situation is an overreaction.
And also I fundementally believe that the fangame WOULD NOT have lost them videogame sales, and would in fact have been a great way to draw in fighting game fans who maybe hadn't heard of the series, as well as entertaining the existing community and raising enthusiasm about the franchise. And then if Hasbro actually released a new fighting game.. well as long as it wasn't TOO soon after Fighting is Magic then I figure it'd be more of a situation where they saw that the fans want that sort of thing and gave it to them, and all the people who by now were bored of the fangame will come and check out the new thing. The only problem in my opinion is if they were both released at the same time, otherwise the videogame industry goes fast and there won't really be much of a competition if a few months have passed.
Also this is gonna be a PR nightmare for the fandom, yikes. Treating fans like shit is gonna lose more sales than simply having a competing product that may not even be competing. Even if Hasbro didn't intend it, a lot of the fandom will now be thinking "oh my god they were cruel for no reason, they don't care about us!!" Because these were fans doing something that they thought was a celebration of their love for the show, and they got coldheartedly shot down. Most people won't think about all these possible reasons, they'll just look at the dissappointed fangame creators and think about how they were all SO EXCITED and now its gone.
And if Hasbro now releases an actual fighting game there will be TOTAL CHAOS. Because it changes from the situation of "oh look, there's a real game that we can buy to support the company" to "OH MY GOD THE CHEEK! They ruin our fangame only to demand we pay them to get what we wanted in the first place??"
I think this is gonna lose more revenue than if they'd just let the thing be made. (Or even better: contact the creators, buy out the property and turn the fangame into an official one. THIS HAS ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN THE PAST. That's how we got Ms. Pacman. And that actually sprang from a real counterfiet game that was actually stealing money from the company)
I'm tired of explaining again and again my point too, and wondering how you can have no empathy for the fans and think they're just like money-producing machines. When I studied business the teachers always used to stress that PR problems are one of the most important things that can suddenly make your franchise go down the toilet, so I just feel that keeping the fans happy would be a better moneymaking strategy than artifically limiting their options so they don't stray away from constantly throwing cash at you.
Which they already do, because FiM is pretty much the most popular thing Hasbro (an already gigantic company) has done in years, and has brought in shitloads of money BECAUSE ITS POPULAR, not because there's no competition. *sigh*
I think we're just approaching this issue from opposite ends so we both look like douchebags to each other. I didn't mean to upset you, dude! Thanks for helping explain this point of view, I feel I can at least understand it now, even if I don't agree with it. Helps me not be mad at Hasbro since they obviously had what they thought was a good reason for doing this, even if people disagree. And now we'll never even know if the fangame would have actually had a detrimental effect on thier finances and been a legitimate threat they had every right to shut down.
*shrug*
I'm not even an MLP fan and this makes me so passionate, lol! What has sociology class done to me.
Incidentely hahahaha oh god thanks for just assuming I don't know the value of money. I live in a homeless hostel due to being divorced from my entire family and financial support. I already LIVE the life of 'if I don't get my money this week, I have no savings to fall back on'. I understand the situation when jobs are lost. Please try not to jump to conclusions like that in the future, people don't have to be rich to not agree with corporate decisions and I wouldn't have assumed you were some disconnected millionaire yuppie either XD
I just DO NOT FUCKING BELIEVE that jobs would be lost over this. This is like the equivelant of Walmart being outpriced by another supermarket on soup or something, and then believing that that would lead to the sudden death of the entire corporate giant that already has cash to spare. Even *if* the very existance of YET ANOTHER fangame suddenly caused Hasbro to lose videogame sales, it wouldn't be a big enough loss to cause mass layoffs, so I feel that the situation is an overreaction.
And also I fundementally believe that the fangame WOULD NOT have lost them videogame sales, and would in fact have been a great way to draw in fighting game fans who maybe hadn't heard of the series, as well as entertaining the existing community and raising enthusiasm about the franchise. And then if Hasbro actually released a new fighting game.. well as long as it wasn't TOO soon after Fighting is Magic then I figure it'd be more of a situation where they saw that the fans want that sort of thing and gave it to them, and all the people who by now were bored of the fangame will come and check out the new thing. The only problem in my opinion is if they were both released at the same time, otherwise the videogame industry goes fast and there won't really be much of a competition if a few months have passed.
Also this is gonna be a PR nightmare for the fandom, yikes. Treating fans like shit is gonna lose more sales than simply having a competing product that may not even be competing. Even if Hasbro didn't intend it, a lot of the fandom will now be thinking "oh my god they were cruel for no reason, they don't care about us!!" Because these were fans doing something that they thought was a celebration of their love for the show, and they got coldheartedly shot down. Most people won't think about all these possible reasons, they'll just look at the dissappointed fangame creators and think about how they were all SO EXCITED and now its gone.
And if Hasbro now releases an actual fighting game there will be TOTAL CHAOS. Because it changes from the situation of "oh look, there's a real game that we can buy to support the company" to "OH MY GOD THE CHEEK! They ruin our fangame only to demand we pay them to get what we wanted in the first place??"
I think this is gonna lose more revenue than if they'd just let the thing be made. (Or even better: contact the creators, buy out the property and turn the fangame into an official one. THIS HAS ACTUALLY HAPPENED IN THE PAST. That's how we got Ms. Pacman. And that actually sprang from a real counterfiet game that was actually stealing money from the company)
I'm tired of explaining again and again my point too, and wondering how you can have no empathy for the fans and think they're just like money-producing machines. When I studied business the teachers always used to stress that PR problems are one of the most important things that can suddenly make your franchise go down the toilet, so I just feel that keeping the fans happy would be a better moneymaking strategy than artifically limiting their options so they don't stray away from constantly throwing cash at you.
Which they already do, because FiM is pretty much the most popular thing Hasbro (an already gigantic company) has done in years, and has brought in shitloads of money BECAUSE ITS POPULAR, not because there's no competition. *sigh*
I think we're just approaching this issue from opposite ends so we both look like douchebags to each other. I didn't mean to upset you, dude! Thanks for helping explain this point of view, I feel I can at least understand it now, even if I don't agree with it. Helps me not be mad at Hasbro since they obviously had what they thought was a good reason for doing this, even if people disagree. And now we'll never even know if the fangame would have actually had a detrimental effect on thier finances and been a legitimate threat they had every right to shut down.
*shrug*
I'm not even an MLP fan and this makes me so passionate, lol! What has sociology class done to me.
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Good point. Didn't think of that.