Pokémon Uranium and AM2R nominated and swiftly removed from The Game Awards

Fan-made games Pokémon Uranium and Metroid II remake AM2R have been removed from the nominees list of The Game Awards’ “Best Fan Creation” category within a week of being announced.

The nominations for the December 1 awards ceremony were revealed last week, which included a number of Nintendo games, in addition to Uranium and AM2R for the category of “Best Fan Creation”. The passion projects’ nominations were met with the same fate as their creations – a swift removal followed by silence from Nintendo.

This news should come as no surprise to anyone who has followed the ongoing saga of these unofficial and unlicensed works. Both Pokémon Uranium and AM2R were released to a positive reception from the gaming community, who appreciated the quality of the games and the respect they paid to their source materials. However, Uranium was voluntarily removed after over 1.5 million downloads, and AM2R was taken down and the creator issued with a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) notice to kill the project.

It is suspected that the quiet removal of the games’ nominations may have been a result of Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé’s position on The Game Awards’ advisory board, even though the board is not involved with the nomination or voting process. It is likely Nintendo would have had a word with the awards show’s organisers, in an attempt to avoid the awkward situation of indirectly awarding a game they had taken legal action against just months prior.

On the other side of the spectrum, Doom developers id Software recently publicly congratulated fellow Best Fan Creation nominee, Brutal Doom 64, for their nomination.