With Steamboat Willie now in the public domain, people have free reign over the classic cartoon. To celebrate that, indie developer Nightmare Forge revealed their new co-op PC horror, Infestation 88, to IGN that stars the Disney mascot himself: Mickey Mouse.
The game features co-op gameplay where players have to handle a rodent infestation. Who’s the leader of that club? Mickey Mouse. A disgusting, vile-looking Mickey Mouse. We get some gameplay with some creepy crawlies and that’s pretty much it. If you did watch the video, you can see that it starts with a disclaimer about Mickey that talks about free use.
Now, the Mickey seen in the game is based on 1928’s Steamboat Willie, Walt Disney’s first short. In it, a young Mickey Mouse plays music and transports Minnie Mouse on, you guessed it, a steamboat. Other versions of Mickey are still copyrighted, so you can’t use Fantasia’s version in your magic-based FPS just yet – sorry game developers.
Open Mouse
So why did Mickey Mouse go public? Copyright laws for any media from the past can only keep them for 95 years. It was originally 55 but Congress extended the rights up 20 years back in 1984 and again in 2004.
That means a majority of things from 1928 are public domain now, such as J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan and A.A. Milne’s The House on Pooh Corner, which introduced the bouncy marsupial Tigger. Also included is another Mickey Mouse short, Plane Crazy. Perhaps we’ll finally get a horror-based Peter Pan game that actually shows how insane Peter Pan is. Last year, A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh was inducted into the public domain. This brought Winnie-the-Pooh: Blood and Honey to life.
No release date was given for Infestation 88. Given that it looks, in a way, playable, as well as relevant, I wager it’ll be out this year. Also, expect to see way more uses of Mickey Mouse in media. Hopefully, it’ll be much more than cheesy horror.
Update – Infestation 88 changed to Infestation: Origins
[Update: In a statement released by the studio, the team is changing their game to “Infestation: Origins,” following allegations that the original title evoked Nazi imagery (which the team refers to as “additional meanings”).]
