Arcania: FoS - Indefinite Delay

[Dhruin]

"Indefinite delay" is usually code for "cancelled" but we'll hold judgment until the details are clear. At any rate, several sites are reporting JoWood's Arcania expandalone is on hold because of legal issues. Undoubtedly one of those issues is that JoWood is once again at death's door. From Rock, Paper, Shotgun (thanks, Roi Danton):

JoWood are being pretty cryptic about the reason for the axe falling, merely revealing that some sort of legal tussle has led to an indefinite delay. “The legal background of the official add-on to “ArcaniA – Gothic 4” is unclear and diverse legal positions with the BVT fund that financed the main game are present.”

More information.

 

[Bateman]

The game was due for release on Friday.

So the game is actually finished? Shouldn't it have gone gold weeks ago if it was to be released this week? Did I miss the news?

Or maybe it's only 'basically' finished - with a patch to come at release and another 2 weeks later and a third after 4 weeks… y'know what they do nowadays in general (and -hopefully dead- publisher jowood used to do in particular).

Did I already mention that I am delighted to see this publisher going bankrupt? :lol:

:lol:

 

[Couchpotato]

Oh well I guess that final spellforce expansion I been hearing about wont get released also.

 

[DoctorNarrative]

Did I already mention that I am delighted to see this publisher going bankrupt? :lol:

:lol:

The day they close should be a CRPG holiday.

 

[GhanBuriGhan]

Should we be glad though? Soon there will only be EA and Bethesda left...

 

[Bateman]

Bethesda is like the dark side... you know they are bad, but damn! their games are fascinating in a way...

 

[Roi Danton]

Should we be glad though? Soon there will only be EA and Bethesda left…

They only downside I see is that I'll most likely never get a real Spellforce 3.

 

[DArtagnan]

I'm in tears......

 

[GothicGothicness]

Wow, if it is indeed finished, imagine how poor the quality of the game must be... if not even jowood is willing to publish it!

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

I assume that JoWood wants to relwease it - but they simply can't pay the delivering companies, I guess … Or the manufacturers are just waiting for money by JoWood.
The only explanation I have for his is sheer insolvency.

In another thread I pointed out to JoWood standing on the brink - and this time it's for real !

This is a matter of … let's say 1 or 2 months, I guess, wherein the fate of JoWood is decided upon.

The situation must be *really* desparate that they even can't deliver a "finished" product !

 

[wiretripped]

There is a God.
Leave the Gothic franchise at peace, please.

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Someone will buy it, if JoWood gets out of business. Everyone in DACH knows it's potential.

 

[azarhal]

Someone will buy it, if JoWood gets out of business.

JoWood could possibly survive by selling a couple of IPs...like Interplay.

Possible buyers:
- EA
- Atari
- Activision
- Zenimax (Owner of Bethesda)
- Sega
- Square Enix
- Throw any other Japanese publishers who are trying to make $ in NA/EU.

Did I forgot one?

 

[Alrik Fassbauer]

Gothic just interesting for them, because it is - imho - too much hardcore and region-specific (Germany !) ... I could imagine Kalypso as a buyer instead, or PB buying their stuff back - that'd be ideal !

Don't know about the other franchises ... I just pray that someone WILL take their adventures !!! ("Book Of Unfinished Tales", for example)

 

[JDR13]

I could be wrong, but I thought Jowood only had the rights to Gothic 4 + an expansion.

 

[Maylander]

Yeah, as far as I know, PB can make Gothic 5 if they want to. Like I said in some other thread, I wouldn't be surprised if we one day saw Gothic: Risen or Risen: Gothic, as the two are obviously based on the same events.

 

[azarhal]

Yeah, as far as I know, PB can make Gothic 5 if they want to. Like I said in some other thread, I wouldn't be surprised if we one day saw Gothic: Risen or Risen: Gothic, as the two are obviously based on the same events.

Wait, this mean that we could get Pirates in Gothic!

 

[Maylander]

We already had pirates in Gothic - in Night of the Raven, Captain Greg (called Captain Gregorius or something in Risen) made his first appearance. I wouldn't be surprised if we saw Skip (renamed Skipster or some such thing) and the rest of Captain Greg's crew in Risen 2.

The way I see it, the pirate theme is simply a continuation of what we saw in Night of the Raven. Probably even with the same characters (slightly renamed).

They do seem to have pistols now though, which is new. They only had cannons before (so they did have gunpowder).

 

[azarhal]

I didn't know there was Pirates in Gothic... I haven't played Gothic 2 yet. Reason: waiting to get it super cheap on GoG (aka free game bonus with The Witcher 2 pre-order).

 

[Moriendor]

I assume that JoWood wants to relwease it - but they simply can't pay the delivering companies, I guess … Or the manufacturers are just waiting for money by JoWood.
...
The situation must be *really* desparate that they even can't deliver a "finished" product !

According to the news on German sites it has nothing to do with that but what's holding back FoS' release is legal issues with the BVT Games Fund that funded the development of ArcaniA. Unfortunately it didn't get more specific than that. "Legal issues" could mean just about anything... including monetary concerns, of course, and who should get paid first for what and so on...

I could be wrong, but I thought Jowood only had the rights to Gothic 4 + an expansion.

No one knows about the legal situation with regard to the Gothic franchise except for JoWooD and a few select people at PB. The assumption that JoWooD can only do Gothic 4 and an expansion is outdated and from before the time that JoWooD and PB came to an agreement over the Gothic rights. No one knows what that particular agreement included, however. Just about anything is possible.

It's a moot point in my opinion though. I don't think that PB will go back to making Gothic games in the near future. If they do anything with the franchise at all then they will license Gothic out to third parties, i.e. someone other than JoWooD if JoWooD does indeed get liquidated.
Looking at the German market I'm not really sure though who would be able to or even interested in carrying on the legacy.