South Park - THQ vs South Park Studios

Dhruin

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Joystiq reports that South Park Digital Studios has filed an objection to THQ's asset auction, claiming THQ does not have the right to sell the game:
In an objection filed in Delaware bankruptcy court, South Park Studios claims that the Deal Memo does not allow other parties use of the South Park IP, and even if the game does end up at a different company, THQ owes South Park Studios at least $2.275 million. South Park Studios "also reserves the right to exercise its option to acquire from THQ all elements of the games and related products under the Deal Memo."

THQ filed a reply on January 21, requesting that the court overrule the objection and allow the sale to continue, though it says it is working toward a consensual resolution with South Park Studios. THQ argues that the license is exclusive and therefore transferable as THQ sees fit. As for the $2.275 million, THQ is "evaluating the amount that South Park asserts is owing" and plans to work with South Park Studios to resolve the issue.
Eurogamer says the rumour is Ubisoft was the winning bidder for South Park but that remains to be confirmed.
More information.
 
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I sympathize for the poor souls in Obsidian who worked on this, only to have it torpedoed by lawyers.
 
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Strange... I always kinda entertained the possibility that this is a hoax and would not be released anyways.
 
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I don't get the impression that the release of the game itself is in much jeopardy.

If anything, this appears to be a fight among the publishers about who gets to enjoy the spoils of the release, and under what terms. Which is certainly backwards from how it usually seems to work.

I'm assuming that when they say "South Park Studios", that we can pretty much replace that with "Matt Stone and Trey Parker", at least in practical terms. Just like they turn to Viacom/Comedy Central to "publish" their cartoon, they turned to THQ to publish this game and handle distribution. It looks like the problem is that by declaring bankruptcy and selling its assets, a new publisher will take over publishing and distribution rights of the South Park IP simply by ponying up enough cash and getting approved by a judge, with no input from Matt & Trey & company. I suspect that doesn't sit well with them, and they want the freedom to go out and find a new publisher themselves, under terms they negotiate.

I suppose it's possible that if things aren't resolved to their satisfaction, that they could simply take their ball and go home and kill the whole game deal, but that doesn't seem likely from folks who actually care about their franchise and want to see this game made. We'll see, I guess...
 
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