Pokemon Company kills Relic Castle, a huge community of fan game creators

The Pokemon Company has issued a DMCA takedown notice to Relic Castle, a decade-old repository of amazing fan games and forums beloved by Pokemon fans.

Founded in 2014, Relic Castle was a hugely popular Pokemon forum that allowed fans to share rom hacks, fan games and teach fans how to make their own custom times. Unfortunately, the website has now been killed.

Navigating to the website at the time of writing shows a statement instead of the original website. Instead of the colourful forums of the website’s past, a simple text message is front and center.

“Dear Pokemon fan game community, it is with heavy heart that I announce that the Relic Castle website has been taken down following a DMCA takedown notice,” reads the website’s statement.

“Relic Castle has always been a non-profit, ad-free, tight-knit community and we pride ourselves in what we have achieved. Members have felt at home, made friends, and even careers with us. It is with deep regret that I have to inform you that the forum part of this community, which was to turn 10 years old this year, has had to come to an end. With over 20,000 members and 65,000 posts, Relic Castle was a home to many of us.”

While the forum is now dead, Relic Castle is survived by a Discord server that will continue to share fan games and be a haven for Pokemon fans everywhere. You can join the Discord server right here.

“Thank you all for being with us this last decade, and thank you for making Relic Castle as awesome and life-changing as it has been for some of us,” the Relic Castle team explained.

In an announcement on the Relic Castle Discord server, it was confirmed that the DMCA takedown from The Pokemon Company took down the beloved forum for “unauthorized copies of copyrighted material”. The team also explained that there are no plans to create a successor, at least right now.

The Pokemon Company has always been highly litigious, taking extreme prejudice against fan games, rom hacks and even mods using its IP. For example, a Palworld mod that added Pokemon characters to the game was removed in a single day with Nexus Mods feeling “uncomfortable” hosting Pokemon content.

Relic Castle’s death is a sad time for all modern Pokemon fans across the world. With the loss of such a beloved community of fan game creators, The Pokemon Company is only stifling the creativity of an incredible group of creators.