LEGO has caused quite a stir around one of its biggest in-house franchises. The company just struck down a Bionicle fangame after eight years of development, striking a nerve in one of LEGO's biggest communities.
The Bionicle: Masks of Power fangame was an eight-year-long project from the minds of Team Kanohi, a small group of developers with a love for the long-retired LEGO IP. Bionicle has long been dormant as a franchise, but it was once a multimedia juggernaut; its innovative toyline saved LEGO from bankruptcy, and spawned an orbiting smorgasbord of films, games, comics, story serials, and more. The original narrative ran from 2001-2010, though the series did receive an unsuccessful reboot that lasted from 2015-2016.
LEGO Shut Down The Bionicle: Masks of Power Fangame After Eight Years of Development
Not unlike other fan-made Bionicle projects, Masks of Power would have taken the series into the world of third-person action/adventure games. Teasers for the project demonstrated a combat system many compared to Horizon: Zero Dawn, all with an incredibly animated take on the original Toa, Matoran, and Rahi. The project also saw incredible support from the community, with the band Cryoshell (who created the music for multiple Bionicle commercials) working with popular creator Essenger to create a new song for Masks of Power's trailer. In addition, Chris Faber (one of Bionicle's creators) has voiced support for the team.
On May 17, fans received word that Team Kanohi's Bionicle fangame was shut down by LEGO. This came as a shock to many, considering that the game has been in development for almost a decade. In a 2021 interview with Digital Trends, creator Jordan Willis mentioned that the team had spoken with a manager at LEGO, who couldn't offer concrete permission but gave the team "rules and guidelines for how we present our product." In the team's latest statement, though, they stated that "The LEGO Group has asked our team to shut down our project in its entirety," with the team speculating that the shutdown could've been down to the title being "too easy to mistake for an official product." This is unconfirmed, however.
The shutdown of Masks of Power has been met with widespread condemnation by the online Bionicle community, as well as by other figures in LEGO and gaming spheres. On Instagram, Chris Faber called the event a 'Matoro Moment' for the community (in reference to the Bionicle character of the same name, renowned by fans for his sacrifice and perseverance), while others have noted how this recent shut-down has followed the trajectory of general Bionicle erasure by LEGO, including the removal of Bionicle statues at the company's theme parks.
For Team Kanohi's part, the developers aren't giving up. In their statement on the matter, Team Kanohi announced a rebranding to Unmasked Games. Moreover, the team also revealed Project Rustbound, which will be an opportunity for the developers to retool some of their work for an original IP.
LEGO's Crackdown On Masks of Power Isn't the Only Way to Respond to Fan Projects
Cracking down on fangames is widely considered a poor move by many, with companies like Nintendo drawing heavy criticism in recent years for crusades against fan projects. It's easy to see how beneficial fangames and other fan works can be to a franchise, with Sega and Bethesda being major examples of studios bringing fans into the fold thanks to incredible modding/fangame communities. The former is especially worth noting, considering the incredible achievement this year's Unleashed Recompiled (an unofficial PC port of Sonic Unleashed) has been in terms of optimization. Moreover, the massive 'brickfilm' community of stop-motion LEGO animators has been a major boon to the company, with LEGO hiring swathes of fan animators for multiple projects.
