“WHELP. IT HAPPENED,” begins the tweet from Lilith Walther (b0tster on Twitter), one of the developers behind Bloodborne Kart, a fanmade spin-off of the popular FromSoftware game. Sony has allegedly contacted them requesting the removal of copyrighted content from the game.
“Long story short I need to scrub the branding off of what was previously known as Bloodborne Kart, which we will do. But that requires a short delay,” they continue. However, they add that “the game is still coming out! It’ll just look slightly different.”
It’s not entirely surprising since the Bloodborne Kart directly references the title of the 2015 PS4 game and includes characters from it. The game is a “meme made real,” originating from an April Fool’s Day Tweet back in 2021. What is surprising is that it has taken so long, as the game has been in open development for quite some time now. It’s perhaps because, a few months ago, it was given the release date of January 31, which is next week.
Of course, the developers were planning to release the game for free, but it’s still infringing on the company’s copyright. It’s honestly not at all surprising, which Lilith states themself in another tweet, saying, “Like I’ve said in multiple interviews, we were all expecting this to happen so we could be pleasantly surprised if it didn’t.”
It’s definitely a bummer, and I feel bad for the development team who were looking forward to putting their creation in the hands of fans, but they’re taking it in stride. Lilith says, “Turning this into an original game that we have full creative control over is kind of exciting. This is a fan game no more!”
Lilith says that they are current uncertain of what the new release date will be for the rebranded Bloodborne Kart, but they hope to share news as soon as possible.
