Yoko Taro fan archive Accord’s Library, a site dedicated to “gathering and archiving all of Yoko Taro’s work”, has apparently been hit by a cease and desist issued by Square Enix.
According to a VGC report (which cites a message sent on the archive’s Discord server), the owners of Accord’s Library were contacted by Square Enix’s legal department recently.
That contact resulted in what the archive’s owners call “some private communication”, and based on “the outlined requirements” of that communication, the site is shutting down permanently on October 31st.
Per the VGC report, Accord’s Library’s moderators are “sad [they] have to go”, but they say they “also must respect the wishes of the [Square Enix] legal team”.
If you’re not familiar with Yoko Taro, he’s the creator of the Nier and Drakengard franchises, serving as game director on the likes of Nier (and its remaster) and PlatinumGames’ followup Nier: Automata, as well as now-defunct mobile spinoff Nier Reincarnation.
As a creative force, he’s well-known for his unconventional approach to game design; the Nier franchise is itself technically a distant sequel to Drakengard, taking place after one of the first Drakengard games’ myriad endings.
Taro is also known for his eccentric public persona; he routinely wears a comically oversized mask of Nier pseudo-mascot Emil for interviews and presentations, and he’s previously expressed a dislike of being photographed as well.
Taro’s works outside Nier include the Voice of Cards series and Sega’s rather odd waifu mobile RPG 404 Game Re:Set, which, much like the Nier mobile game, has now been shut down.
While it’s quite often more the MO of companies like Nintendo to issue cease and desist orders, Square Enix has handed out its fair share of them as well, perhaps most notably to fan projects like Chrono Resurrection.
Unfortunately, this likely spells the permanent end of Accord’s Library; given the nature of the project, it’s unlikely the site could return in some other form. Still, one never knows. Stay tuned for more.
