Baldur's Gate EE - Barred from Sale, BG II: EE Delayed

Couchpotato

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Well it's with sad news I bring word of an official statement posted on the Baldur's Gate web site.

Trent Oster explains that due to legal problems surrounding the Baldur's Gate license, and with publisher Atari, Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition may no longer be purchased from the Apple App Store, or the Beamdog game service.

Also this means that the release of Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition and patches for Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition have both been delayed indefinitely.
Dear Friends of Baldur's Gate,

We recently removed Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition from sale on Beamdog and the Apple App Store. We've taken this step at our publishing partner's request as we attempt to resolve a number of contractual issues.

Unfortunately, until this matter is resolved, we are unable to release the latest Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition patch or Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition for Android.

This also prevents the launch of Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition. I sincerely apologize to the series' fans and promise we are working diligently to remedy the situation.

Regards, Trent Oster President, Beamdog & Overhaul Games
More information.
 
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Here is some more Q&A from the website.
Frequently Asked Questions

I have already purchased Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition from Beamdog or the Apple App Store. Will I still be able to download and play my game?

Yes. If you have already purchased Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition from Beamdog or the Apple App Store, you can still download and play your game.

Why is all of this happening? What caused this issue?

We are unable to discuss details of the complex legal matters surrounding this issue at this time. Please be aware that we are extremely unhappy with the situation and are doing our best to work past it. We have put a lot of hard work into this series, and are eager for fans to see it.

When will Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition be available again?

Unfortunately, we cannot offer the game for sale until all issues with our publishing partner have been resolved. We do not have a specific date for when the game will be available again.

What is in the next Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition patch?
The next Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition patch features:

  • An updated user interface that allows for high-resolution scaling and transparency.
  • A new renderer featuring enormous performance improvements, and compatibility enhancements for Intel graphics chipsets.
  • A new font system for sharper, clearer text.
  • Full German language support, including new German VO for the expanded content.
  • Subtitles in movies.
  • Over 135 gameplay fixes and enhancements.
We are unable to release this patch until all issues with our publishing partner have been resolved.

What's the status of Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition?

We have been developing Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition for some time now, but until all issues with our publishing partner are resolved we cannot officially announce or offer this game for sale. This has resulted in significant amounts of wailing and gnashing of teeth amongst the development team.

What's the status of Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition for Android?

We cannot offer the game for sale until all issues with our publishing partner have been resolved.
 
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Interesting to note, the game is still up for sale on Steam at the moment this was written.
 
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Hopefully this will be resolved very soon. I actually did like the Enhanced Edition, and would hope that more developers could be given the opportunity to do cool things with old licenses. But I guess the legal trail of ownership can get pretty ugly when you've got licenses, bankruptcies, and so forth making things murky.
 
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Something's not going smoothly with Atari involved.

WHAT A BIG SURPRISE.
 
Hmm my hubby couldn't patch the game last night (he bought it a while ago, but never installed/played until last night), I suppose now we know why. But isn't it unfair on people like my hubby that he cannot even patch the game he bought already? Mine is up to date with the patch, so I have no problems, but his game was crashing constantly :(
 
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Interesting how all these 'complex legal matters' didn't come to light during the months and years leading up to the release of the game.

Some people throw out vague hints they want to make a fan version of a seemingly dead franchise and within minutes are able to present legal documents from the current publisher to cease and desist.

Seems like the devs actually might have made some decent money on this project and somebody has decided to go fishing for some of their $$$.
 
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Something's not going smoothly with Atari involved.

WHAT A BIG SURPRISE.

Considering that Atari doesn't have the rights to D&D license (Hasbro took it back last year or was it the year before?) and that they are not the original publisher of the BG games. The whole thing is rather strange...
 
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This has resulted in significant amounts of wailing and gnashing of teeth amongst the development team.
Jeez, I should think so!

Any effect on the Neverwinter engine remake?
 
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Jeez, I should think so!

Any effect on the Neverwinter engine remake?
Don't know but I would buy it all over again if they did. Just actually have a campaign this time.:p
 
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Interesting how all these 'complex legal matters' didn't come to light during the months and years leading up to the release of the game.

Some people throw out vague hints they want to make a fan version of a seemingly dead franchise and within minutes are able to present legal documents from the current publisher to cease and desist.

Seems like the devs actually might have made some decent money on this project and somebody has decided to go fishing for some of their $$$.

And in the case of the Skyrim mod MERP, which isn't going to get the modders any $$$, they still won't allow it. Years of development lost to that C&D.:(
 
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In response to the 'why now' question. The copyright holder can allow development or sale as long as they want, and in fact it's not against the law to sell a product that infringes upon another's copyright. At any time you can tell the infringing party to cease and desist, hopefully after they have wasted precious $ on developing their product.

This is all standard procedure for a copyright or IP infringement claim.

The question is WHO. Who decided to press a claim, and went through all the legal rigamarole and expenses in order to get them to cease and desist selling their product? Such a company surely deserves scorn.
 
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Didn't Atari go bankrupt and sell off certain assets? Maybe ownership of the Ip for Baldur's Gate is now owned by someone else.
 
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I just hope they get this resolved quickly. I want to see that new patch get released, and I definitely want to see BG2 EE.
 
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God I hate this legalese bullcrap. What makes it worse is that I am very aware that my hate of it changes abosolutely nothing. Grrr. :shakefist:
 
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maybe they're just finding excuses
 
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Very annoying. I was hoping to get BG2: EE this fall, as I don't have too many games on my list until 2014.
 
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On a seemingly unrelated note, being a mildly paranoid person I am, I'll download the BG remake for NWN2 right now.
I sense that the "complex legal issues" could escalate to other BG/D&D remakes or fan-projects.
 
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