Square Enix demands Patreon remove the leaked Tomb Raider script. The script for Project Jawbreaker was released last week.

Crystal Dynamics has filed a DMCA request against Last Stand Media via Patreon after the hosts of one of its podcasts read a script allegedly used to cast actors for the next Tomb Raider game.

The scenario, which has been widely reported, was told in an episode of the Sacred Symbols podcast. According to host Colin Moriarty, Patreon contacted him and asked him to remove the offending material or risk being suspended from the platform.

According to Moriarty, the DMCA came through Square Enix. The Japanese publisher has agreed to sell Crystal Dynamics and the Tomb Raider IP to Embracer, but closing the deal is still subject to various regulatory and other external approvals.

“They sent a DMCA to Patreon asking us to take down the offending audio of us talking about the new Tomb Raider game,” Colin said in a video discussing the situation.

Interestingly, no other platform has yet received a DMCA claim at the time of writing.

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a federal law enacted in 1998 to address technological advances that allow more opportunities for piracy in the Internet age. It essentially protects platforms like YouTube and Patreon, allowing them to be safe from legal action if a user uploads copyrighted content.

“I acted on the understanding that this is fair use, this is information in the public interest, it’s not that I broke into Crystal Dynamics to steal this,” said Colin.

Fair use is a DMCA protection that allows the use of copyrighted content in very specific contexts, usually requiring some kind of transformative use of the material (eg, using clips from a game in a review).

“Chris’s reading is crazy. There’s no way anyone would take it seriously,” argues Colin, referring to his co-host Chris Maldonado reading the script in a mock-Cockney accent.

“We’re not going to take the whole thing down unless we have to,” says Colin, referring to the edited version of the podcast that now exists on Patreon, as opposed to the original script reading version that Apple currently owns at the time of writing. They are on podcasts and YouTube.

According to the alleged script, the next Tomb Raider will run internally as Project Jawbreaker and is described as “an action-adventure game set in a modern world shaken by a mysterious cataclysm.”

Developer Crystal Dynamics announced earlier this year that the development of the next Tomb Raider game has begun using Unreal Engine 5.

Dallas Dickinson, general manager of Crystal Dynamics’ Tomb Raider franchise, said in April that Crystal Dynamics’ goal with the next game is to“push the boundaries of hyper-realism and deliver the high-quality cinematic action-adventure experience that fans deserve. ”

In a January video outlining its plans for the franchise’s 25th anniversary this year, Crystal Dynamics revealed that Lara Croft’s next adventure will “merge” the timelines of Core Design’s original Tomb Raider games and its own reboot trilogy. Still, they warned fans that don’t expect that anytime soon.

Embracer Group acquired Crystal Dynamics and Tomb Raider IP in May.

Source: VideoGamesChronicles