Manufacturers of Life is Strange: Double Exposure are accused by fans of using legal takedowns to limit discussion and criticism of the game.

What does a niche lesbian video game subreddit have to do with the future of free speech on the internet? Quite a few, as it turns out.

I have researched allegations that suggest Square Enix abused its copyright takedown power to target and shut down fan criticism of their new game, Life is Strange: Double Exposure.

The r/pricefield subreddit is a community dedicated to the Life Is Strange franchise, primarily shipping the main character Max along with her love interest Chloe from the first game. It has 12,000 members, many of whom have engaged in critical discussion of the decision to leave Chloe out of Double Exposure.

The subreddit is an independent space for Life is Strange fans to talk about fan theories, share fan art, and discuss games, and is completely unaffiliated with Square Enix. These fans noticed that more and more of their posts and comments were being removed by Reddit after a third party started issuing copyright violations.

In response, and fearing further penalties from Reddit, the subreddit’s moderators published a open letter to Square Enixstating that they believe someone at the company, or the developer Deck Nine, is “intentionally removing non-infringing content for reasons other than infringement.” They believe this is happening because Square Enix is ​​unhappy about not having editorial control over the page.

The subreddit’s removal, they say, appears to have included text posts that contained publicly available information, including discussions of public tweets made by the game’s developers. Many fans in the community are concerned that this is a targeted and hostile move to shut down fair and reasonable criticism of the new game.

“It was both deeply saddening and incredibly frustrating to see how Deck Nine and Square Enix – one of the most enthusiastic and open branches of fandom – treated us,” moderator HoHoey told GameCentral.

“Not only do they attempt to silence genuine criticism and silence the voices of rightfully disgruntled fans, they also attempt to intimidate community members with DMCA takedown notices and abuse copyright law to control access to publicly available information.

“At the end of the day, we’re just a bunch of Life Is Strange fans trying to celebrate and enjoy two of the most beloved characters in the franchise.”

If a publisher decides to use its powers to shut down discussions on public forums, it would set a worrying precedent that companies can simply block and remove conversations between internet users they don’t like.

What’s so striking about this story is that the publisher isn’t trying to crack down on “anti-woke” internet trolls in a crusade to “cancel” the game by featuring themes they don’t like, but rather seem to be targeting fans of the franchise.

The implications this would have on the future of free speech online are worrisome, but perhaps symptomatic of a broader anxiety we’re seeing among video game publishers right now.

You only have to look at Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s bombshell review on Metacritic, contrasted with its “mostly positive” reviews on Steam (where you actually have to own the game to review it) to see the power that communities I can have it online.

It’s clear that publishers face challenges when it comes to the power of the Internet and the impact it can have on the success of their products.

We spoke to Square Enix about the allegations and received this official statement:

“In connection with DMCA notices, all actions taken were in accordance with the appropriate legal requirements and with Reddit’s own procedures for reporting intellectual property violations. These processes apply to infringing content shared before a game’s release, including leaks of information or confidential information due to non-disclosure violations and data-mined content. No DMCA notices have been sent on any posts outside of these circumstances.

We’ve also reached out to Reddit for comment, and at the time of publication have yet to hear back from them.

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