A developer who had, until recently, been working on a fan-made Mega Man project called Rockman EXE Phantom of Network Remake, has stated via tweet that the company that owns the rights to Mega Man, Capcom, has asked them to cease production on the project.
The developer went on to say that they would stop working on the project, suspend the use of their Twitter account, and delete any images or videos they had released of the in-progress work.
Unlike many other publishers, this sort of action isn’t typical of Capcom. The publisher even sanctioned and helped finish a fan-made project called Street Fighter X Mega Man where players took control of characters from another Capcom property, Street Fighter.
As the name implies, Rockman EXE Phantom of Network Remake was based on Rockman EXE Phantom of Network,  a 16-year-old Japan-exclusive mobile title and the developer’s intention was to distribute it for free. The fact that Capcom uncharacteristically intervened has led some to theorize that the company may have plans to sell the product in some form in the future. Over the last few years, Capcom has been releasing collections of Mega Man and Mega Man X games.
Beyond these collections, Mega Man will occasionally crop up in Capcom games in a cameo capacity, and Capcom characters like Ryu and Frank West seem to enjoy dressing up as the classic character, but official games from the entire Mega Man franchise have been uncommon for over a decade. Since 2010, there have been three traditional Mega Man games in addition to the aforementioned Street Fighter X Mega Man.
Capcom hasn’t commented on their decision as of reporting. They did, however, update their policies regarding content creation on January 6, 2021.
