The creators of the Spyro the Dragon fan game Spyro: Myths Awaken have received a letter from Activision’s legal team calling for the end of development on the project.
The letter unsurprisingly cites the game’s unauthorized use of Spyro characters and intellectual property, something IP holders tend to be diligent about in order to protect the copyright.
In short, while a fan game may be a well-intended labor of love from a franchise’s fans, allowing unauthorized use of copyrighted materials can both make it more difficult to prosecute more nefarious uses of owned IP and, as Activision points out in the letter, “cause confusion with other fans” in regards to what is and isn’t official work.
“As you know, the Spyro character and intellectual property are of enormous value to Activision and the unauthorized use of that intellectual property is in violation of Activision’s rights, including its rights under copyright and trademark law,” reads the letter shared by the fan game’s developers. “Accordingly, we must demand that you immediately cease and desist from any further development, distribution, marketing, promotion, or exploitation of [Spyro: Myths Awaken]. While we have no objection to your development of an original platforming game, any such game cannot be set in the Spyro or Skylanders world or use any of the characters, locations, names, or other assets or intellectual property from Activision’s Spyro or Skylanders games.“