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Pixelmon, the Pokémon-themed mod for Minecraft that debuted in 2012, can no longer be downloaded, at the request of The Pokémon Company to the developers.
The following is a quote from a blog post by MrMasochism, creator of Pixelmon:
“With much sadness, but keeping all our fond memories, we must announce that Pixelmon is ending its development. We have had a great time making this mod and creating such a wonderful community but after a request from the Pokémon company we will be shutting our doors.”
Pixelmon gave Minecraft players the ability to capture, train, and evolve Pokémon and battle against other trainers. It also included well-known content present in Pokémon games, like fossils and breeding, and had voice acting. In the five years the mod was available, multiple versions of it were released and a large number of videos and series dedicated to it were produced, which helped to build the mod’s huge following and fan base. For context, the developers stated that each new version saw between “50 – 450 thousand” downloads.
Isi, an administrator of Pixelmon, stated that the majority of the development team will be “bowing out” from Minecraft following the shutting down of the mod.
Given Nintendo’s history of putting an end to mods of its franchises — such as Metroid 2 mods just before announcing the remake of Samus Returns — it’s somewhat surprising that Pixelmon was allowed to continue on as long as it did, and long enough to garner the level of popularity it enjoyed.
Were you a Pixelmon player? What are your thoughts on the matter? Start a conversation in the comments!
Source: Kotaku
