In the early 2000s, the industrial band Powerman 5000 had a brief flash of fame when their song “When Worlds Collide” was included in a video game, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. Well, the band is all up in arms about another video game and popular JRPG, Final Fantasy XIV, for ripping off their hit single. Over Facebook, they WROTE, “Got to say that the level of unimaginative theft that was used in creating this music for #finalfantasyXIV is mind blowing… Using something as inspiration is one thing but a straight up rip off is another.”
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Does it vaguely sound like “When Worlds Collide”? Kind of, but the idea of anyone in the Square Enix camp, furthermore legendary composer Nobuo Uematsu, taking time out of their day to rip off Powerman 5000 is… well it’s not likely. And sure enough, in a follow-up post, the band stated that their initial comments were just “a two sentence observation” on the song’s similarities. The lesson here being that maybe you shouldn’t accuse a popular video game series of stealing unless you’re ready to piss off an entire fanbase who are likely still upset with the tragedy that was the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy.
Compare the tracks below:
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Illustration by Reesa -
Screenshot: GSC Game World -
Screenshot: Bethesda Softworks -
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