It’s been a hectic week for throwback game specialist and Bloodborne superfan Lilith Walther. The designer behind Nightmare Kart revealed a nifty-looking expansion for her brilliant Bloodborne spoof a few days ago, which brings sniper rifles and harpies to its cosmic horror karting. Yet around the same time, Sony took a threaded cane to her earlier work, a more straightforward demake of Bloodborne with PS1 era visuals, released in 2021.
In a thread on Bluesky, Walther outlined the situation, which started with her posting a video promoting BloodbornePSX on YouTube. “I have now been provided with evidence that Markscan is working under Sony to issue a legitimate DMCA takedown on my video.” Walther subsequently explained that the takedown was aimed not at the video itself, but the download link in the description. In compliance with the request, Walther removed the link, but also said she had taken the decision to “not make the fan game available to download in the future.”
This is likely because MarkScan, the company working as a copyright enforcer on behalf of Sony, also issued a takedown notice for Bloodborne PSX’s Itch.io page. In its notice (via The Verge) MarkScan claims it has found “copyright infringements” on the itch page, and that Walther is therefore “indulging in acts of digital piracy”.
This isn’t the first time Walther has come under Sony’s legal eye—Nightmare Kart was originally named ‘Bloodborne Kart’ before Walther changed it following a request from Sony to ditch the Bloodborne branding. This time Sony seems to be playing hardball, however.
Perhaps that’s because MarkScan is cracking down on Bloodborne-related fan projects at large. The enforcer was also behind the recent removal of a 60 fps patch compatible with the ShadPS4 emulator, one of the few ways you can technically play Bloodborne on PC. The patch’s creator, Lance McDonald, commented on X that the DMCA takedown was “from the same company that SIE hired to take down the 60fps patch”.
While I accept Sony’s right to protect its copyrighted works, MarkScan’s approach to enforcement seems extremely heavy-handed, especially considering how Sony dealt with the Bloodborne Kart situation. As PCG’s Ted Litchfield notes in his reporting of the 60 fps patch takedown, Sony’s argument there seems particularly spurious, given ” the consumer right to modify software for non-commercial use has strong precedent”. These slash and burn tactics have naturally prompted speculation that they may be paving way for a more official release of Bloodborne on PC, but even if this is the case, surely it would be wise to service the audience before clamping down on these frankly harmless fan projects.