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General discussionBlack & White: Why still not on GOG?(41 posts)solved(41 posts)solved
(41 posts)solved
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This is my favourite topic
Posted June 10, 2017
Black & White is one of the most requested games ever on GOG. I'm sure GOG tries hard to negotiate that, but why doesn't it happen? It's not like EA wouldn't want that, right? For example, we have Mirror's Edge here, also an EA game.
Post edited June 10, 2017 by Cifer84
This question / problem has been solved by Grargarimage
Posted June 10, 2017
Have to have the rights to sell it first.
Posted June 10, 2017
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pimpmonkey2382.313: Have to have the rights to sell it first.
EA doesn't have the rights to Black & White? But they are the publisher.
Posted June 10, 2017
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pimpmonkey2382.313: Have to have the rights to sell it first.
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Cifer84: EA doesn't have the rights to Black & White? But they are the publisher.
Not them, GOG.
Posted June 10, 2017
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Cifer84: EA doesn't have the rights to Black & White? But they are the publisher.
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pimpmonkey2382.313: Not them, GOG.
It's not just GOG, Steam also doesn't sell it.
Posted June 10, 2017
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pimpmonkey2382.313: Not them, GOG.
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Cifer84: It's not just GOG, Steam also doesn't sell it.
Same problem there too, most likely.
Posted June 10, 2017
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Cifer84: It's not just GOG, Steam also doesn't sell it.
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pimpmonkey2382.313: Same problem there too, most likely.
Yeah, but what is the problem? Why can't EA just allow it?
Posted June 10, 2017
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pimpmonkey2382.313: Same problem there too, most likely.
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Cifer84: Yeah, but what is the problem? Why can't EA just allow it?
They're pricks? I don't know, they might want to sell it either on origin only, might not care enough, or might want more of a split than either steam or gog want to give them for it?
Posted June 10, 2017
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pimpmonkey2382.313: Same problem there too, most likely.
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Cifer84: Yeah, but what is the problem? Why can't EA just allow it?
They tried to charge people for gas when they released their last NFS game (totally true). We are not dealing with rational people here. :P
Posted June 10, 2017
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pimpmonkey2382.313: Have to have the rights to sell it first.
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Cifer84: EA doesn't have the rights to Black & White? But they are the publisher.
EA is publisher but lionhead developed. Lionhead was owned by Microsoft and no longer exists. Rights are between Microsoft and EA at best. At worst, I can imagine it's not pretty for who owns it. Microsoft is NOT on GOG at this time.
Posted June 10, 2017
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Cifer84: EA doesn't have the rights to Black & White? But they are the publisher.
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wizisi2k: EA is publisher but lionhead developed. Lionhead was owned by Microsoft and no longer exists. Rights are between Microsoft and EA at best. At worst, I can imagine it's not pretty for who owns it. Microsoft is NOT on GOG at this time.
Yeah, Lionhead was bought by Microsoft a few years after Black & White was published. I think you are correct, probably rights for Black & White are split between EA and Microsoft, both are too greedy, so nothing happens. (Rights can't be only at either Microsoft or EA, otherwise the game would be at least on Steam or Origin, but it isn't.) When Black & White was published, it was the most hyped game ever. Today it's not sold anymore and frankly it's dead, who would have thought that back then. Sad.
Post edited June 10, 2017 by Cifer84
Posted June 10, 2017
I think it's more of a tech issue than a legal one. Some people on Steam's Godus forum were speculating that EA has the legal power to re-release it, but my guess is the game doesn't work on all GOG's test machines. (I wonder if dgVoodoo could fix that.)

http://steamcommunity.com/app/232810/discussions/0/864979008340925372?ctp=2

"EA still has the publishing rights to Black & White and Black & White 2. This is why Lionhead was never able to revisit the franchise (due to the Microsoft acquisition in April of 2006). Not sure if it'll ever become available on Steam due to EA's investment in Origin, but you guys aren't alone in wanting to see it make a proper return as a digital download somewhere. That game rocks my socks."

"The rights to a game usually stay with the publishers, not the development studio. So Electronic Arts (EA) own the distribution rights to the game. For Lionhead to try to obtain the rights to the series would be a huge red tape job. They would be better off to make a similar-yet-different game.

This is also partly why Godus isn't just like Populous - because Peter Molyneux doesn't own the rights to that series, even though he made it. The rights are owned by the publishers (EA again).
Posted June 10, 2017
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tfishell: I think it's more of a tech issue than a legal one. Some people on Steam's Godus forum were speculating that EA has the legal power to re-release it, but my guess is the game doesn't work on all GOG's test machines. (I wonder if dgVoodoo could fix that.)

http://steamcommunity.com/app/232810/discussions/0/864979008340925372?ctp=2

"EA still has the publishing rights to Black & White and Black & White 2. This is why Lionhead was never able to revisit the franchise (due to the Microsoft acquisition in April of 2006). Not sure if it'll ever become available on Steam due to EA's investment in Origin, but you guys aren't alone in wanting to see it make a proper return as a digital download somewhere. That game rocks my socks."

"The rights to a game usually stay with the publishers, not the development studio. So Electronic Arts (EA) own the distribution rights to the game. For Lionhead to try to obtain the rights to the series would be a huge red tape job. They would be better off to make a similar-yet-different game.

This is also partly why Godus isn't just like Populous - because Peter Molyneux doesn't own the rights to that series, even though he made it. The rights are owned by the publishers (EA again).
Yeah, those are all just speculation, like you said. So it is still hard to say why Black and White is not on Steam or any other download service. Look at games like Descent Series and No One Lives Forever series as examples of how complicated rights and licensing can be.
Posted June 10, 2017
Does the publisher really has all the rights? Look at Hitman (2016), the publisher was Square Enix and the developer was IO Interactive. Square Enix wants to sell IO Interactive and I have read that the Hitman rights stay with IO Interactive, so in this case the rights stay with the developer (they were independent before Square Enix bought them, like Lionhead was independent before Microsoft bought them). A technical reason is also possible, maybe it's difficult to get Black & White run on modern systems and it's not economically to pay these resources. Maybe both reasons.

(No One Lives Forever: I never played it, but maybe there is licensed 70s music and the license expired, same stupid mistake the makers of Alan Wake did?)
Post edited June 10, 2017 by Cifer84
Posted June 10, 2017
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Cifer84: Does the publisher really has all the rights? Look at Hitman (2016), the publisher was Square Enix and the developer was IO Interactive. Square Enix wants to sell IO Interactive and I have read that the Hitman rights stay with IO Interactive, so in this case the rights stay with the developer (they were independent before Square Enix bought them, like Lionhead was independent before Microsoft bought them). A technical reason is also possible, maybe it's difficult to get Black & White run on modern systems and it's not economically to pay these resources. Maybe both reasons.

(No One Lives Forever: I never played it, but maybe there is licensed 70s music and the license expired, same stupid mistake the makers of Alan Wake did?)
No One Lives Forever is because nobody knows who actually owns what rights. There are different companies in involved and none of them know if they actually own the rights or not and what rights they may or may not have. it is sitting in the paper work of these companies and none of them are willing to research out who has what rights. So the series stays in limbo.

Read this article to learn more
http://kotaku.com/the-sad-story-behind-a-dead-pc-game-that-cant-come-back-1688358811
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General discussionBlack & White: Why still not on GOG?(41 posts)solved(41 posts)solved
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