While SNK's worldwide fame can partly be attributed to widespread piracy, the company isn't nessesarily happy about it still lingering to this day in age.
According to Korean news site Donga, SNK is cracking down, of all things, pirated copies of Last Blade and Samurai Shodown games as a part of an effort in preparing for its listing on the KOSDAQ stock exchange.
The report says SNK is cracking down on over 20 Internet shopping sites through a hired law firm, with demands in compensation estimated between 5 million to 20 million won. SNK officials explain that the the lawsuits are being made in advance of their listing to protect the interests of their future shareholders and isn't meant for hurting the businesses of small-scale dealers.
The movement if anything is expected to serve as a warning for smaller-scale pirating dealers unaware of potential consequences. Some dealers that were cracked down explain that they "thought it was ok because the bigger shopping sites and portals were doing it-- a lot of dealers are over 60 years old with lack of knowledge in copyrights". (Donga)
SNK is best known for their
King Of Fighters series, in addion to other strong franchises including
Metal Slug and
Fatal Fury. While
Samurai Shodown is also a well-known title with a new upcoming project on the way by Chinese mobile juggernaut Tencent, it isn't clear why the publisher chose to also crack down on the
Last Blade series in particular. While the series has recently seen a collaboration with SNK's Japan-local mobile title
Kimi wa Hero, it's questionable whether that alone would be enough for them to warrant a crackdown. The movement could potentially be a sign of things to come.
Thanks to Gatoray for the news.Source:
http://news.donga.com/list/3/01/20180521/90182801/1?lbTW=d525d7e3c4842878757798537d6567b
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