Pokemon Is Shutting Down One Of Its Biggest Games
Pokemon is one of the biggest game franchises on the planet, and one of the entries in the huge franchise is now being shut down.
Besides the eponymous creatures, all Pokemon games have one thing in common, and that’s a wide variety of charming music that the franchise’s fandom came to love over the years. Since listening to said soundtracks outside the games previously proved as difficult, The Pokemon Company launched the Pokemon Sound Library, allowing fans to stream and download their favorite tunes. But unfortunately, Nintendo abruptly decided to terminate the Sound Library service only months after launch.
As reported by IGN, Nintendo unexpectedly shut down the Pokemon Sound Library after an extensive promotional period following the service’s launch in February this year. Before termination, the service allowed users and content creators to stream, download, and legally use sound effects and tracks from 2006’s Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl — spiritual predecessors of modern Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Pokemon Shining Pearl titles.
The Pokemon Company revealed the news in a new post on their website, though the company hasn’t provided any information on the reason for Pokemon Sound Library’s closure. However, the announcement makes it clear that fans who have previously downloaded files from the library can continue to use said files for as long as that use adheres to the Sound Library’s Terms and Conditions — more specifically, said tracks and sound effects can’t be used in commercial purposes.
Pokemon Sound Library’s website offers several examples of non-commercial use for which the music can be used, like weddings, recitals, sports events, etc. It’s pretty nice seeing Nintendo, alongside The Pokemon Company, make the music available in said instances, considering that Nintendo has a history of cracking down on copyright issues. That usually meant trouble for fans who wanted to enjoy Pokemon music or use it for content creation.
The termination of the Pokemon Sound Library was an unfortunate decision, considering that it functioned as a basic radio for those enjoying Pokemon music and doubled as a repository of samples for musicians, artists, and content creators. Pokemon fans seem confused and frustrated by the companies’ decisions, and not without reason. Nintendo has no issues requesting entire YouTube channel shutdowns and gaming tournament cancelations to “protect” its IPs, so finding Pokemon music outside official channels proved difficult over the years.
Several YouTube channels tried posting Pokemon music over the years, but those channels, or their content — questionable by Nintendo’s standards — didn’t spend more than a few days on the social platform. The Pokemon Sound Library was a welcomed official source for Pokemon music. Now, it is gone, along with 149 different tracks and sound effects, including that one single by DJ Alan Shirahama that exclusively used Pokemon Music.
This is truly disheartening news for Pokemon fans, though the franchise’s fandom has plenty of things to look forward to. Besides adding an entirely new Poke Ball to Pokemon Home, The Pokemon Company also revealed new Pokemon for their upcoming Pokemon Scarlet and Pokemon Violet video games — which are, apparently, spiritual successors to 1998’s Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue gaming titles, which were released for Nintendo’s iconic Game Boy handheld console.
