‘Pokemon Uranium’ Fan Game Shut Down by Nintendo After 1.5 Million Downloads

The fan-made “Pokemon Uranium” game took a pair of programmers more than nine years to develop. Nintendo needed just about nine days to kill it.

“After receiving more than 1,500,000 downloads of our game, we have been notified of multiple takedown notices from lawyers representing Nintendo of America,” the creators of “Pokemon Uranium” said in a statement. “While we have not personally been contacted, it’s clear what their wishes are, and we respect those wishes deeply.”

“Therefore, we will no longer provide official download links for the game through our website,” they continued. “We have no connection to fans who re-upload the game files to their own hosts, and we cannot verify that those download links are all legitimate. We advise you to be extremely cautious about downloading the game from unofficial sources.”

The role-playing game was free, though creators ~JV~ and Involuntary Twitch were open to suggested PayPal donations of $2-$10.

“We are blown away by the response this game has received, and we thank you all so much for your outstanding support,” the duo said. “We will continue to provide Pokemon Uranium-related news and updates through our official channels.”

“You are welcome to continue discussing and sharing content related to the game on our forums and Discord, where there is a very active community,” they concluded. “Thank you for reading, and let’s share the love of Pokemon!”

Set in the tropical Tandor region, “Uranium” players can encounter more than 150 all-new species of Pokemon in their quest to collect all eight Gym Badges and triumph over the Tandor League, per the official description. Along the way, the players must battle against a sinister threat that’s causing Nuclear Meltdowns.

“Pokemon Uranium” dropped on Aug. 6, right in the middle of the existing “Pokemon Go” craze.

Watch the fan-made trailer above and lament that you’ll never (legally) play it.