Relic Citadel, a preferred discussion board targeted on the creation and sharing of Pokémon fan video games, has gone offline with no superior warning. The parents behind the positioning blame a DMCA takedown discover for the sudden shutdown.
Relic Citadel was arrange in 2014 as an internet discussion board the place folks may speak about Pokémon fan video games, and will additionally share hyperlinks to obtain these video games from third-party web sites. Relic Citadel by no means hosted any of those recordsdata straight; as an alternative, fan video games utilizing a mixture of new and outdated belongings had been typically downloaded from locations like Mediafire and Google Drive. The boards had been only a handy hub for hyperlinks and gave the group a spot to debate Pokémon fan video games. Nonetheless, it’s all gone now.
On March 21, the Relic Citadel Twitter account posted a message stating that the positioning had been shut down “following a DMCA takedown discover.” Relic Citadel didn’t verify who despatched the discover.
“Relic Citadel has at all times been a non-profit, ad-free, tight-knit group and we pleasure ourselves in what now we have achieved,” the workers defined within the message.
“Members have felt at house, made associates, and even careers with us. It’s with deep remorse that I’ve to tell you that the discussion board a part of this group, which was to show 10 years outdated this 12 months, has needed to come to an finish.”
Kotaku has reached out to Relic Citadel for extra data.
In line with that message, Relic Citadel had over 20,000 members and 65,000+ posts. Whereas the positioning is gone, the Discord server stays and is “not going anyplace.” Relic Citadel workers additionally pointed to the Wayback Machine as a useful resource for people seeking to go to the positioning shifting ahead.
“Thanks all for being with us this final decade, and thanks for making Relic Citadel as superior and life-changing because it has been for a few of us,” mentioned website proprietor Marin and supervisor Andy in a message on social media. The identical textual content can now be discovered on a principally clean web page that changed Relic Citadel final evening.
That is simply the most recent salvo within the conflict towards Pokémon mods and fan content material. Not too long ago, a seven-year-old YouTube video that includes modded Pokémon in Name of Responsibility was taken down, too. Some concern The Pokémon Firm and Nintendo—spurred by the success of Palworld aka Pokémon with Weapons—could be cracking down on content material that may have been capable of fly beneath the radar earlier than. For now, we don’t know who ordered Relic Citadel to be shut down, however for Pokémon content material creators and modders, it doesn’t matter. Issues are wanting riskier than ever for them.
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