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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
Heretic II - rights split between Activision/Raven and Bethesda/id (having published the preceeding installments)

The Legends of Aranna and Broken World expansions to Dungeon Siege and Dungeon Siege II respectively - the rights to Legends of Aranna are held by Microsoft, the rights to Broken World by 2K while the rights to the main installments are held by Square Enix.
Wunderbar.
Posted May 05, 2020
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Swedrami: Heretic II - rights split between Activision/Raven and Bethesda/id (having published the preceeding installments)

The Legends of Aranna and Broken World expansions to Dungeon Siege and Dungeon Siege II respectively - the rights to Legends of Aranna are held by Microsoft, the rights to Broken World by 2K while the rights to the main installments are held by Square Enix.
Wunderbar.
So that's why they are missing :c
Posted May 05, 2020
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Swedrami: Heretic II - rights split between Activision/Raven and Bethesda/id (having published the preceeding installments)

The Legends of Aranna and Broken World expansions to Dungeon Siege and Dungeon Siege II respectively - the rights to Legends of Aranna are held by Microsoft, the rights to Broken World by 2K while the rights to the main installments are held by Square Enix.
Wunderbar.
Now, that's what I call a mess. Negotiations with 2k are possible, but microsoft... That would be a nice pool of games coming to GOG.
Posted May 05, 2020
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Truth007: doesn't Microsoft own Mechwarrior?
They do, and they can make new games in the franchise, but they can't rerelease the older ones with the old designs.
Posted May 06, 2020
Severance Blade of Darkness

What a game ahead of its time. I could kick myself for not picking it up here before it was gone.
Posted May 06, 2020
Ripley's Believe It or Not!: The Riddle of Master Lu

Probably not going to happen so... at least we got the Youtube video still (and I got the disc somewhere):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2pse57Ab0E
Posted May 06, 2020
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Truth007: doesn't Microsoft own Mechwarrior?
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andysheets1975: They do, and they can make new games in the franchise, but they can't rerelease the older ones with the old designs.
Why? As far as I know the legal problems with the mech designs have been solved.
Posted May 06, 2020
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andysheets1975: They do, and they can make new games in the franchise, but they can't rerelease the older ones with the old designs.
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Geralt_of_Rivia: Why? As far as I know the legal problems with the mech designs have been solved.
Oh, they did? Dang, I'm more out of it than I thought...
Posted May 06, 2020
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Ancient-Red-Dragon: Nocturne - no one knows who currently holds the rights to that since the dev company who used to hold the rights went bankrupt. Although they could have re-released on GOG and/or Steam in the many years before they went bankrupt, yet they didn't for some unknown reason.

And as I was making this post, I found an article from 2018 that said the same dev company was suing Microsoft in 2018, even though they reportedly went bankrupt in 2013. I thought they ceased to exist when they went bankrupt, so I have no idea how they were able to sue Microsoft if they no longer exist(ed) at the time when they did so.

So maybe they still have rights to Nocturne after all, despite being bankrupt and not existing any more, whilst also still existing at the same time (?!).
Might be that the rights of the game lies with the publisher aka Take-Two Interactive.
Post edited May 06, 2020 by Prah
Posted May 06, 2020
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deja65: 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
For some companies, the bigger issue actually is the idea of having to share profits with other companies. Especially if the potential profits are seen is too small.
Posted May 10, 2020
Why would anybody want to see NOLF released here?

It's been available, for years, free of charge, fully patched, working on modern systems, virus-free on its own website that is a google search away. It ain't exactly legal, but if the actual rights holders can't be bothered, why should I be bothered?

And what are the upsides to an official release? How much money are the original creators making from the pirated copies? Zilch. How many would they make from an official release? In all likelyhood also zilch. What are the upsides here?

So, why exactly are people so eager to see NOLF rereleased officially? Do you like lining the pockets of people like Stephen Kick (or Bobby Kotick for that matter, because we had a very similar scenario with Solder of Fortune) with money? Or have people just become so inundated with industry propaganda that the idea of owning something "officially" (even though it has no objective benefits to you as a consumer) trumps common sense.
Post edited May 10, 2020 by fronzelneekburm
Posted May 10, 2020
A lot of racing games, even the ones without licensed cars or tracks
Posted May 10, 2020
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triock: Limbo of the Lost! O.o
Perfect!
Posted May 10, 2020
Another vote for NOLF 1 and 2. Damn, we need those games on GOG or we need them remastered or something. Kate Archer was so cool as a protagonist.
Posted May 10, 2020
Dune, Dune II, Dune 2000, Emperor: Battle for Dune, Frank Herbert's Dune (video game).

I don't know the legal status of these games, but they sure are Unobtainable™!
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This is my favourite topic
Community
General discussionGames stuck in copyright limbo.(48 posts)(48 posts)
(48 posts)