After 8 years in development, BIONICLE: Masks of Power, a fan-made open-world action title by Team Kanohi, has been shut down at LEGO's request, despite maintaining compliance with fair use guidelines directly provided by LEGO.
Bionicle: Masks of Power, a long-running fan project, is getting an overhauled version, and releasing on Steam, first with a demo.
That sucks
People need to stop investing so much time into making fan games for existing IP. Yes you want to make something new or show your appreciation for an existing IP. But you gotta know that there's a high chance it will get shut down. Companies want to protect their IP, whether they do something with it or not. They own it and have every right to do as they please with it. Instead, focus your energy on making something original and or inspired by the IP you love. It sucks to keep hearing about stories like this. Game development is a long, often hard thing to do. Seeing years/ money spent on making something, then it easily gets shuts down in a matter of minutes, is a depressing thing.