In early February this year, Nintendo released a Pokemon sound library that gave content creators access to sound effects and music tracks from Pokemon games. However, the library didn’t last for long — three months later, they shut it down without any explanation.
The Pokemon DP Sound Library let musicians and content creators use sound effects and music from Pokemon Diamond and Pearl without legal or copyright issues. Nintendo removed the whole library on May 31, as reported by Eurogamer.
It came as a surprise from Nintendo, and there was no reason given for the shutdown. Nintendo was promoting the sound library a lot back in February and even collaborated with Japanese DJ Alan Shirahama to make a single using Pokemon music, so it’s strange that the company suddenly decided to remove it.
It’s a tragedy that this sound library will be deleted because it is very difficult for any type of creator to upload music even slightly related to Nintendo. They are very strict with copyright and have a reputation for swiftly taking down creator content with no mercy.
They did this for YouTube creator GilvaSunner, who lost more than 3,000 videos after Nintendo took them down. They did this right before releasing their sound library, although it has not been confirmed whether or not this is related.
The Pokemon sound library had 149 music and sound effects from the 2006 Pokemon games Diamond and Pearl. The library may have been taken down on May 31, but for those who downloaded files from the library before its shutdown are still allowed to use them as long as they abide by the terms and conditions.
Nintendo fans were obviously devastated by the news, especially since it seems like the sound library was closed for no apparent reason.
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