As spotted by MarshSMT on Twitter, Japanese studio Atlus are suing two individuals for copyright infringement. Going under the online aliases Rekuiemu Games and COMP_Hack, revived the MMO Shin Megami Tensei Imagine Online back in 2020 when a fan-made server was created an released online.
While the suit was originally filed back in late 2021, the case has picked up as both Rekuiemu Games and COMP_Hack have both been summoned to court. Atlus are seeking “statutory damages of up to $25,000 per violation of the DMCA,” plus “monetary relief including damages sustained by Atlus in an amount not yet determined.”
This has left some in the gaming community worried as many believe that this could open the floodgates for other companies to come in and shut down all fan-made servers for several titles around the world. Many MMOs and other titles throughout history have fan-made servers including Halo 2, Phantasy Star Online, and Toon Town.
