{"id":46292,"date":"2025-03-28T17:08:49","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T08:08:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=46292"},"modified":"2025-03-28T17:37:53","modified_gmt":"2025-03-28T08:37:53","slug":"developer-sued-by-square-enix-for-allegedly-using-front-mission-assets-addresses-lawsuit-with-message-to-players-and-remade-assets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developer-sued-by-square-enix-for-allegedly-using-front-mission-assets-addresses-lawsuit-with-message-to-players-and-remade-assets\/","title":{"rendered":"Developer sued by Square Enix over reused Front Mission assets addresses lawsuit with message to players and remade assets\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Mecharashi<\/strong> (Metal Storm)’s US publisher HK Ten Tree Limited issued a message on March 27 addressing the lawsuit recently filed against it by Square Enix in the US. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Mecharashi\u2019s official homepage<\/a>, the company acknowledges the lawsuit and says that it will be taking careful measures in order to reach an \u201camicable resolution\u201d with Square Enix over the game. HK Ten Tree Limited encourages players to \u201ccontinue enjoying Mecharashi with peace of mind,\u201d and promises to keep improving its services. In addition, Mecharashi players on Reddit<\/a> have noticed that the developer BlackJack Studio has remade some of the disputed in-game assets, such as item icons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the lawsuit filed by Square Enix in a Seattle court on March 13, HK Ten Tree Limited is accused of illegally using assets from the cancelled Front Mission 2089: Borderscape (as reported by Polygon<\/a>). Square Enix announced Borderscape back in 2022, collaborating with BlackJack Studio for its development. However, the game was cancelled only a few months later, and Square Enix terminated the license agreement they had with BlackJack Studio. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, in October 2024, the studio released Mecharashi in Japan and China, boasting a similar concept and look to the now-cancelled Front Mission project. Square Enix alleges that BlackJack Studios used Front Mission\u2019s copyrighted materials to create Mecharashi. It seems that while the assets were created by the studio, they are supposedly owned by Square Enix according to the license agreement made between the two parties. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In the lawsuit, Square Enix pushes the courts to stop the game from being released in the US until the copyrighted materials are replaced, and requests compensation of $150,000 per copyright infringement.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It seems that Mecharashi\u2019s developers are trying to resolve the issue by replacing some of the assets in question, but the lengthy lawsuit submitted by Square Enix highlights a range of similarities related not only to the look of icons, but also to gameplay mechanics, which might prove trickier to replace. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

While the outcome of the lawsuit remains to be seen, Mecharashi is currently still available in Japan and China, as well as being listed as \u201cComing Soon\u201d on the US Steam store page. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mecharashi (Metal Storm)’s developers have addressed the lawsuit recently lodged by Square Enix by remaking assets and issuing a message.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":46313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-46292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nDeveloper sued by Square Enix over reused Front Mission assets addresses lawsuit with message to players and remade assets\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mecharashi (Metal Storm)'s developers have addressed the lawsuit recently lodged by Square Enix by remaking assets and issuing a message.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developer-sued-by-square-enix-for-allegedly-using-front-mission-assets-addresses-lawsuit-with-message-to-players-and-remade-assets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Developer sued by Square Enix over reused Front Mission assets addresses lawsuit with message to players and remade assets\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mecharashi (Metal Storm)'s developers have addressed the lawsuit recently lodged by Square Enix by remaking assets and issuing a message.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developer-sued-by-square-enix-for-allegedly-using-front-mission-assets-addresses-lawsuit-with-message-to-players-and-remade-assets\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-28T08:08:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-28T08:37:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250328-46292-headder.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1332\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"740\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Developer sued by Square Enix over reused Front Mission assets addresses lawsuit with message to players and remade assets\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","description":"Mecharashi (Metal Storm)'s developers have addressed the lawsuit recently lodged by Square Enix by remaking assets and issuing a message.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developer-sued-by-square-enix-for-allegedly-using-front-mission-assets-addresses-lawsuit-with-message-to-players-and-remade-assets\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Developer sued by Square Enix over reused Front Mission assets addresses lawsuit with message to players and remade assets\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","og_description":"Mecharashi (Metal Storm)'s developers have addressed the lawsuit recently lodged by Square Enix by remaking assets and issuing a message.","og_url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developer-sued-by-square-enix-for-allegedly-using-front-mission-assets-addresses-lawsuit-with-message-to-players-and-remade-assets\/","og_site_name":"AUTOMATON WEST","article_published_time":"2025-03-28T08:08:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-28T08:37:53+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1332,"height":740,"url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250328-46292-headder.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Amber V","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_site":"@AUTOMATON_ENG","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Amber V","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developer-sued-by-square-enix-for-allegedly-using-front-mission-assets-addresses-lawsuit-with-message-to-players-and-remade-assets\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developer-sued-by-square-enix-for-allegedly-using-front-mission-assets-addresses-lawsuit-with-message-to-players-and-remade-assets\/"},"author":{"name":"Amber V","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9"},"headline":"Developer sued by Square Enix over reused Front Mission assets addresses lawsuit with message to players and remade assets\u00a0","datePublished":"2025-03-28T08:08:49+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-28T08:37:53+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developer-sued-by-square-enix-for-allegedly-using-front-mission-assets-addresses-lawsuit-with-message-to-players-and-remade-assets\/"},"wordCount":382,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developer-sued-by-square-enix-for-allegedly-using-front-mission-assets-addresses-lawsuit-with-message-to-players-and-remade-assets\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250328-46292-headder.jpg","keywords":["News (Japan-related)"],"articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developer-sued-by-square-enix-for-allegedly-using-front-mission-assets-addresses-lawsuit-with-message-to-players-and-remade-assets\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developer-sued-by-square-enix-for-allegedly-using-front-mission-assets-addresses-lawsuit-with-message-to-players-and-remade-assets\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developer-sued-by-square-enix-for-allegedly-using-front-mission-assets-addresses-lawsuit-with-message-to-players-and-remade-assets\/","name":"Developer sued by Square Enix over reused Front Mission assets addresses lawsuit with message to players and remade assets\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developer-sued-by-square-enix-for-allegedly-using-front-mission-assets-addresses-lawsuit-with-message-to-players-and-remade-assets\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developer-sued-by-square-enix-for-allegedly-using-front-mission-assets-addresses-lawsuit-with-message-to-players-and-remade-assets\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250328-46292-headder.jpg","datePublished":"2025-03-28T08:08:49+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-28T08:37:53+00:00","description":"Mecharashi (Metal Storm)'s developers have addressed the lawsuit recently lodged by Square Enix by remaking assets and issuing a message.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developer-sued-by-square-enix-for-allegedly-using-front-mission-assets-addresses-lawsuit-with-message-to-players-and-remade-assets\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developer-sued-by-square-enix-for-allegedly-using-front-mission-assets-addresses-lawsuit-with-message-to-players-and-remade-assets\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developer-sued-by-square-enix-for-allegedly-using-front-mission-assets-addresses-lawsuit-with-message-to-players-and-remade-assets\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250328-46292-headder.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250328-46292-headder.jpg","width":1332,"height":740,"caption":"Mecharashi"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/developer-sued-by-square-enix-for-allegedly-using-front-mission-assets-addresses-lawsuit-with-message-to-players-and-remade-assets\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"\u30db\u30fc\u30e0","item":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Developer sued by Square Enix over reused Front Mission assets addresses lawsuit with message to players and remade assets\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","name":"AUTOMATON WEST","description":"AUTOMATON is a website that covers the Japanese gaming world. We bring you the news on video games from Osaka and Tokyo.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#organization","name":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/activegamingmedia_logo.png","width":374,"height":190,"caption":"\u682a\u5f0f\u4f1a\u793e\u30a2\u30af\u30c6\u30a3\u30d6\u30b2\u30fc\u30df\u30f3\u30b0\u30e1\u30c7\u30a3\u30a2"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/AUTOMATON_ENG","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCabvYnvuUUbbGUrxkaFRgSA"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/fdc6517a00e35b6917ffdb02e8b574d9","name":"Amber V","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/12252024-100x100.jpg","caption":"Amber V"},"description":"Editor-in-Chief since October 2023. She grew up playing Duke Nukem and Wolfenstein with her dad, and is now enamored with obscure Japanese video games and internet culture. Currently devoted to growing Automaton West to the size of its Japanese sister-site, while making sure to keep news concise and developer stories deep and stimulating.","url":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/author\/amber-vjestica\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46292"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46292\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46328,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46292\/revisions\/46328"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/46313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}