Sony has issued numerous DMCA notices towards a fan challenge working to carry Harmony again to life.
Harmony was infamously pulled from sale simply two weeks after its PS5 and PC launch, amid options it had offered lower than 25,000 copies. On the time, Sony mentioned the sport would stay offline indefinitely so Firewalk might “decide the perfect path forward” and “discover choices, together with these that can higher attain our gamers.” Later that very same month, although, Harmony sport director Ryan Ellis stepped down, and by the top of October 2024, Firewalk Studios, the Sony-owned developer behind the ill-fated shooter, was additionally shut down.
Quick-forward to right now, and a staff of volunteer builders have been working for months to get the sport up and working once more, getting the primary menu, character choose, and matchmaking engaged on non-public servers. “The challenge continues to be WIP,” one volunteer developer wrote on the Harmony Delta Discord, however confirmed “it is playable, however buggy.”
“Hey. After a very long time of reverse engineering [and] server improvement, we simply managed to play a match of Harmony!” the staff introduced on Discord.
“The challenge continues to be WIP, it is playable, however buggy. As soon as our servers are totally arrange, we’ll start performing some non-public playtesting, if anybody right here desires to affix these playtests, let me know (embody what area/time zone you might be in for comfort).” The announcement ended thanking a few volunteer builders for “serving to […] reverse engineer the sport”.
Crucially, the staff solely hosted gamers who already owned the sport information themselves by means of a professional buy, and slapped down anybody making an attempt to share “copyrighted information”.
“I do know this sucks for individuals who obtained forcefully refunded, however legal professionals are most certainly already watching all the pieces we do and I wish to guarantee this challenge stays as authorized as we realistically can do,” the staff wrote. “We will likely be eradicating any posts containing hyperlinks to copyrighted information.”
Regardless of the staff’s warning, nevertheless, Sony has focused the challenge, submitting copyright infringement claims towards movies exhibiting the challenge in motion on YouTube and social media. And whereas it is unclear if Sony has filed towards the staff itself, it appears they have been cowed into submission for now, with one of many devs writing on Discord: “Because of worrying authorized motion we’ve determined to pause invitations in the intervening time,” (thanks, The Sport Submit).
The UK’s Home of Commons not too long ago debated the necessity for improved online game client protections in addition to online game preservation. On this debate, Harmony’s sudden shutdown was used for instance, and the requirement for sturdy client protections in such a case.
One MP said: “A latest instance is Harmony, a sport launched for PlayStation 5 and Home windows in August 2024. Following a disappointing launch, Sony Interactive Leisure made a business determination to close it down. To their credit score, they did refund all purchases, however this is not at all times the case.”
