If you’re a Pokemon fan who’s been active in various forums and other communities scattered around the Internet, there’s a chance you’ve spent some time at Relic Castle or at least stopped by there. The Pokemon fansite served as a place for Pokemon enjoyers to talk about news related to animated Pokemon shows as well as new game announcements, and sometimes, it was a place to advertise and collaborate on fan-made Pokemon games. Perhaps due to that last aspect of the site more than any other, those discussions held over on Relic Castle have ceased now that the stie’s been served with a DMCA notice.
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The owners of the Relic Castle site shared the latest on the DMCA situation with their followers, a takedown which comes around 10 years after the site first first started hosting Pokemon discussions. Marin, the owner of the site, and Andy, its manager, had this to say about Relic Castle’s closure.
“It is with heavy heart that I announce that the Relic Castle website has been taken down following a DMCA takedown notice,” reads the notice which was shared on socials and now serves as the Relic Castle landing page. “Relic Castle has always been a non-profit, ad-free, tight-knit community and we pride ourselves in what we have achieved. Members have felt at home, made friends, and even careers with us. It is with deep regret that I have to inform you that the forum part of this community, which was to turn 10 years old this year, has had to come to an end. With over 20,000 members and 65,000 posts, Relic Castle was a home to many of us.”
Relic Castle’s organizers told Pokemon fans that the Discord server for the site is “not going anywhere,” so Relic Castle can live on elsewhere, to a degree, even if it won’t be the same as it was before. An archived version of the site and its contents is also available through resources that preserve sites such as Wayback Machine.
“Thank you all for being with us this last decade, and thank you for making Relic Castle as awesome and life-changing as it has been for some of us.”
The announcement from the Relic Castle owners didn’t mention specifics about the DMCA takedown or anything it cited, but it’s not a stretch to imagine that the issue most likely dealt with the fan-made content. Sections of Relic Castle were dedicated not only to discussions about fan-made Pokemon games but also to the actual development of them where fans could share ideas and resources when working on different projects.
The Pokemon Company is particularly attentive when it comes to fan-made Pokemon games, and though there was a notice on the footer of the site that clarified files and projects weren’t actually hosted on Relic Castle, the result was still the same. It’s unclear why these actions were taken now, however, considering how the site’s been active for around a decade now.
