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Topic: Stardock Highest Bidder on Star Control Trademark (Read 54055 times)
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Anthony
*Smell* controller
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Star Control Lives!
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The Atari auctions are now over. Bankruptcy information for Atari's Chapter 11 filing is available through public documents:
1. Go to http://www.bmcgroup.com/restructuring/Docket.aspx?ClientID=316
2. Click on any docket#. There are over 300 documents available.
Some of Atari's assets have been listed, including Star Control:
Docket #305 (Notice of Successful and back-up bidders with respect to the auctions of certain of the debtors' assets)
And check this out:
Docket #296 (Notice of attempt to assume and assign certain executory contracts)
While this does not mean that a new Star Control game is coming, at least we have the satisfaction of knowing that the rights are now in the hands of people who are fans of the first two games and that Paul is involved somehow.
Stardock CEO, Brad Wardell, wrote about the auctions without mentioning the titles: http://forums.littletinyfrogs.com/446878#replies
What are your thoughts about this?
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Tiberian
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Shortly put: This is very interesting.
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meep-eep
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I'm afraid the Paul connection is old. Note the Atari party: "Accolade"
My bet is that this refers to Accolade licensing the Star Control IP to make Star Control 3, with the $0.00 meaning that no more payments are due.
I do hope that Stardock realise what they got (and what they didn't). They may now own the Star Control trademark and the SC3-specific IP, but Atari did not own the SC2 IP.
If Stardock wants to make a game including any of the SC2 races or plot points, they will still need to make a deal with Paul and Fred (unless they already did).
And considering that Paul and Fred have on numerous occasions stated that they still want to make a sequel to SC2 and that they still talk about SC3 game ideas among themselves, it's not likely that they will let another party make a true sequel.
And with the Stardock people being Star Control fans, they will not want to make a sequel based on the Star Control 3 IP.
So these are the scenario's which I came up with:
- Stardock thought they got the SC2 IP, but didn't. Ouch. I hope they didn't pay too much.
- Stardock were only interested in the Star Control trademark. This is probably not it, as Brad Wardell claims to be excited by the purchase.
- Stardock are actually working with TFB. Maybe they were even enlisted by TFB to make the purchase. Still, all that excitement about just the trademark?
My money is on the first scenario.
Also, I don't know what it would mean if Atari's Star Control trademark claim would be judged invalid, considering that the extension to the registration was based on token use.
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« Last Edit: July 21, 2013, 07:44:21 pm by meep-eep »
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“When Juffo-Wup is complete
when at last there is no Void, no Non
when the Creators return
then we can finally rest.”
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oldlaptop
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I honestly find it hard to believe that Stardock wouldn't have known that all Atari has/had to sell was the trademark, but then again Atari seemed to think they still had copyright, or at least publishing rights, when they started selling SC1/SC2 again (when they didn't).
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Arne
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Yak!
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"Reboot" ( ._.)
That's when you want to do a remake, but don't want to be faithful (and maybe they can't, since TfB has everything of actual worth).
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vok3
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I just posted essentially this on PNF, but it can go here too:
This means nothing.
1) The only thing Stardock could have bought here is the rights to the "Star Control" name itself. The rights to EVERYTHING ELSE - Ur-Quan, Precursors, Spathi, Chenjesu, all of it - reside with Toys For Bob. That is why and how the sourceforge UQM release was possible, and why the title had to be changed. If Stardock tries to make a Star Control game without involving TFB, there will be no Ur-Quan, no Syreen, no Shofixti, no Yehat, no nothing. In short, it will not be Star Control.
2) Toys For Bob is wholly owned by Activision. Activision has no reason to cooperate with a rival publisher. At the very least, Stardock would have to pay Activision exorbitant amounts to be able to use Activision employees for a project intended to compete with Activision's core business - electronic entertainment. It is extremely unlikely that Toys For Bob has avoided signing non-compete agreements. Therefore it is highly unlikely that Toys For Bob - meaning Paul Reiche and Fred Ford, the people who count - will be involved in any Stardock Starcon project.
3) If Paul Reiche and Fred Ford are not involved, I don't care what name is slapped on it, it's not Star Control.
4) Stardock is the company that announced they were doing a Master of Magic remake and then came out with one of the worst releases in gaming history, Elemental: War of Magic. They then put a huge amount of effort into undoing the PR damage they took from that, resulting in Fallen Enchantress, which is a passable fantasy strategy game, but nothing legendary.
5) Stardock's track record even with its successful games is that they make dry, workmanlike games. There is not that much personality or quirkiness in them. The whole point of Star Control is the quirkiness and the personality infused in every detail. This is purely a matter of who actually works on the game, and their creativity and what sort of ideas they have. Ford and Reiche have it. Stardock has not yet demonstrated that they do, and based on the Elemental / Fallen Enchantress history, there's better than even odds that it'll turn out they just can't.
6) Star Control is about spaceships, dammit. Not X-com like tactics. I love X-com, but if I want to play X-com, I'll play X-com, not X-com-renamed-as-Star-Control.
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Frogboy
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Hi guys!
Brad from Stardock here.
We have connected with Paul and Fred. Fingers crossed but things look hopeful. The copyright to Star Control 1/2 is owned by Paul Rieche directly, not Toys for Bob so I think there is reason to think that they might be able to participate in the creation of a new Star Control game.
None of this changes the status of the Ur-Quan Masters or Star Control on GOG.
Our core team involved at Stardock (myself included) have been huge fans of Paul's work since the Archon / Star Flight days.
By an XCOM like reboot we don't mean XCOM game mechanics but rather creating a new Star Control game that brings in the fun and game play we all know and love. The *campground* is looking *flavorful*.
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vok3
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All right, that's more hopeful than I thought. It would invalidate my points 1 and 2.
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Jeff Graw
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Hi guys!
Brad from Stardock here.
We have connected with Paul and Fred. Fingers crossed but things look hopeful. The copyright to Star Control 1/2 is owned by Paul Rieche directly, not Toys for Bob so I think there is reason to think that they might be able to participate in the creation of a new Star Control game.
Good to hear!
Our core team involved at Stardock (myself included) have been huge fans of Paul's work since the Archon / Star Flight days.
As much as I love SC2, I think there are a few things the Starflight series did better. The RPG mechanics, and planetary exploration come to mind. On the other hand, Star Control had better combat, and the way the universe unfolded in a preset way unless the player altered events in a specific time window really solved the dilemma of openness vs. authenticity faced by many sandbox games today. Ideally, a new Star Control would take the best parts of each franchise along with some new ideas.
Brad, do you lean more towards a vast and lonely universe (SF1), a more populated and colorful one (SC2), or something in-between?
By an XCOM like reboot we don't mean XCOM game mechanics but rather creating a new Star Control game that brings in the fun and game play we all know and love. The *campground* is looking *flavorful*.
For me, the comparison to Firaxis' XCOM remake is scary. Many feel it took too many steps back from the original. While production values and accessibility were quite a bit improved, the core mechanics and gameplay left something to be desired. I'm guessing you don't mean that you intend to make the new Star Control more accessible via cutting out large swaths of the original mechanics though, as SC2 is already fairly accessible.
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« Last Edit: July 24, 2013, 05:04:28 am by Hurleybird »
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Parker
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Wow wow wow wow wow wow wow! ...Is what I literally vocalized when I read the news on Slashdot.
Thanks for dropping by Brad, and at the very least thanks for hopefully keeping the name from sitting around in the dusty basement of one publisher after the other.
Please don't half-ass this. I'm glad to hear you're a fan of TFB's games, and I hope your favorite is Star Control II. I really hope you can work with Paul in some fashion. If you can blend open exploration with good RPG elements* and fun spaceship action successfully, you'll have a valuable winner on your hands.
*Two games, SC2 and KOTOR come to mind when I think of great RPG storytelling. The conversations are branched, real decisions can be made in dialogue, and consequences manifest from those decisions. You don't feel like you're on a track, even if ultimately you are. Not to mention they don't take themselves too seriously.
Also if you can pretend Star Control 3 didn't happen that would be great 
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