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General discussionGames stuck in copyright limbo.(48 posts)(48 posts)
(48 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted May 05, 2020
Old racing and sports games, reporting for duty!
Post edited May 05, 2020 by Grargar
Posted May 05, 2020
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Anothername: ...is surely stuck in copyright hell.
You'd think ol' Tom would delete that series of tweets to avoid having to deal with people continuously unearthing it and holding out their hand by now.
Posted May 05, 2020
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Truth007: you know whats weird to me, if no one knows who owns it then couldn't someone release it? how would they get in trouble?
Night Dive tried to re-release the games, then got a letter threatening legal action from Warner Bros.

But with NOLF Warner seem to be the primary with Activision owning something else. However Activision has said several times that they couldn't confirm as the records predated digital storage, and for that reason they didn't know where it was. Fox was the same as Activision.

Monolith developed the game originally, and it was published by Fox. Monolith was later brought by Warner, and Fox was brought by Vivendi. Vivendi then merged with Activision.
Posted May 05, 2020
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StingingVelvet: NOLF is the biggest one for me. No one is sure who owns it and no one wants to pay lawyers to figure it out.

Wolfenstein 2009 was mentioned earlier today, a game Activision paid Raven to make but the rights now lie with Bethesda, causing what one assumes is a clusterf**k no one wants to deal with.

I never thought Blade Runner would come here though, so... who knows. There's always hope. In the meantime, not to be too blunt, there are plenty of ways to find backup copies.
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Truth007: you know whats weird to me, if no one knows who owns it then couldn't someone release it? how would they get in trouble?
because you can't legally sell something you dont own
Posted May 05, 2020
Limbo of the Lost! O.o
Posted May 05, 2020
Battle for Middle Earth I and II

The likelihood of them ever getting re-released is abysmally low.

Games were made by EA but the LOTR game making rights are currently in the hands of Warner Brothers. EA would have to reacquire them first.
The first game uses the movie license from New Line Cinema. Expired, would have to be rebought by EA.
The second game uses the LOTR book universe license. Expired, would have to be rebought by EA.

So for EA to be able to re-release them, they would have to shell out an insane amount of money to do so. Unless EA decides to make another LOTR game in the future, we can't expect the games to appear anywhere.

Due to this situation, the only way to currently get the games are ludicrously overpriced physical copies. Just check the prices on Amazon :O
Post edited May 05, 2020 by idbeholdME
Posted May 05, 2020
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Truth007: you know whats weird to me, if no one knows who owns it then couldn't someone release it? how would they get in trouble?
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RoboPond: Night Dive tried to re-release the games, then got a letter threatening legal action from Warner Bros.

But with NOLF Warner seem to be the primary with Activision owning something else. However Activision has said several times that they couldn't confirm as the records predated digital storage, and for that reason they didn't know where it was. Fox was the same as Activision.

Monolith developed the game originally, and it was published by Fox. Monolith was later brought by Warner, and Fox was brought by Vivendi. Vivendi then merged with Activision.
That really makes me sad. A company is ready to threaten anybody trying to actually fix and rerelease their game, for which they will get free money. Yet, they are unable to just open a drawer on a desk and find that one moldy piece of paper that says “Warner U ownz NOLF jajajaj”. Gotta go and redo the Siberia mission with all the sniffing around drawers, finding the gum and toenail clippers ;). Cheers
Post edited May 05, 2020 by deja65
Posted May 05, 2020
Night Dive tried to talk to Activision and WB to get them to work out who owned which bits of the licence/ copyrights etc. They also tried dropping hints in the media and trying to build up expectations and momentum. That was the right approach.

When it didn't work they decided to go fishing for a response and tried to register No One Lives Forever as a Trademark to see who if anyone would bite- and found out that WB is big enough to have a dedicated legal team looking to justify their existence.

Don't shed any tears for Night Dive, they're not IP Robin Hoods looking to free properties for the oppressed masses, they were looking to make money. And what they got is exactly what they played for; a response that told them who claims to own NOLF. It just wasn't the response they wanted, but basically being told to DIAF.
Posted May 05, 2020
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Truth007: how would they get in trouble?
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TheMonkofDestiny: I think the prevailing theory has been that if someone were to try it, the people with the rights would pop out of thin air to try and shut it down. Nightdive joked about trying something similar with NOLF but I don't think they truly want to risk wasting time and any amount of funds toward experimenting just to see who files a claim.
It's the "Dog Sleeping on Hay" situation. The story is about a dog sleeping on a pile of hay and whenever any farm animal comes close to eat it he barks at them, not letting them to eat anything even though he himself can't do anything with it and yet he claims it is his and no one else's.

These companies wont do anything with these rights but wont allow anybody else ether.
Posted May 05, 2020
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Phasmid: Night Dive tried to talk to Activision and WB to get them to work out who owned which bits of the licence/ copyrights etc. They also tried dropping hints in the media and trying to build up expectations and momentum. That was the right approach.

When it didn't work they decided to go fishing for a response and tried to register No One Lives Forever as a Trademark to see who if anyone would bite- and found out that WB is big enough to have a dedicated legal team looking to justify their existence.

Don't shed any tears for Night Dive, they're not IP Robin Hoods looking to free properties for the oppressed masses, they were looking to make money. And what they got is exactly what they played for; a response that told them who claims to own NOLF. It just wasn't the response they wanted, but basically being told to DIAF.
Rather that highlines the problem. Nobody knows who has the rights untill someone comes up to claim them. I wonder how long it would take to people know WB has NOFL if Night Dive didn't make that claim.
Posted May 05, 2020
Aliens vs Predator 2 + Primal Hunt.

Alien and Predator are owned by Fox who's now owned by Disney. I think SEGA has currently the rights to make games based on the Alien license.

But then there's Aliens vs Predator 2000 who's published by Rebellion.

So who could release the second game here?


Also the original Prey is now owned by Bethesda right? But they didn't want to make it available again due to the problems with Human Head Studios and Prey 2. But now they own Human Head, so is there a chance they release it again?
Posted May 05, 2020
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Truth007: you know whats weird to me, if no one knows who owns it then couldn't someone release it? how would they get in trouble?
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RoboPond: Night Dive tried to re-release the games, then got a letter threatening legal action from Warner Bros.

But with NOLF Warner seem to be the primary with Activision owning something else. However Activision has said several times that they couldn't confirm as the records predated digital storage, and for that reason they didn't know where it was. Fox was the same as Activision.

Monolith developed the game originally, and it was published by Fox. Monolith was later brought by Warner, and Fox was brought by Vivendi. Vivendi then merged with Activision.
Warner Brothers are notorious assholes. When Nightdive tried to purchase Blood's (FPS game) IP, Warner Brothers put the price at some ridiculous number so that Nightdive wouldn't buy it.

The joke's on WB, though, as Blood was reverse engineered already. Fuck Warner Brothers.
Posted May 05, 2020
Also of special note should be Sony owned PC games. Since they give absolutely zero shits about PC in general, don't expect to see any old games they unfortunately now own like Drakan or Overboard any time soon.

Not exactly a copyright limbo, but same result.
Post edited May 05, 2020 by idbeholdME
Posted May 05, 2020
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Phasmid: ...
In any case it's easy to download the NOLFs for modern machines, I believe it's the first option when googling "nolf download". (music plays on the site)
Posted May 05, 2020
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bluethief: Also the original Prey is now owned by Bethesda right? But they didn't want to make it available again due to the problems with Human Head Studios and Prey 2. But now they own Human Head, so is there a chance they release it again?
You can buy Steam Keys for the original Prey on sites like Ebay, which still currently allow you to download the game on Steam (Tried it last year). My gut feeling is it probably won't get rereleased anytime soon.
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This is my favourite topic
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General discussionGames stuck in copyright limbo.(48 posts)(48 posts)
(48 posts)