Star Control: Origins - Taken Down

Farflame said:

Im afraid they are, kind of. At least shady or hypocritical.

When this mess started? When R+F announced their own successor to SC2 using different name to avoid lawsuit (they cant use the name). After that Stardock started to claim that R+F cant create a successor. This claim at least CONTRADICTED Stardocks own older claims that they perfectly respect R+F and are happy when R+F will create their own game etc.. and that Stardock dont have rights for SC content (only the name) - and they really didnt use it in SC: Origins.
Later at one point Stardock lawyers took control and started to claim ridiculous stuff that R+F are not creators etc. It seems that R+F let their lawyers do the same.

Now we dont have any new Star Control, but we have 2 x Lawyer Control.

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I alway had some repulse for stardock, so my intuition was quite accurate.

There's been an update: basically, judge denies the appeal of the take down requests and throws some scorn at Stardock for getting themselves into this.

You can still buy and play the game. You can buy them in their store and it will activate in Steam.

I read a bit about this when this was release. This is a mess that's been going on for years.

Basically the rights reverted back to the guys in 2001 - Accolade licensed it; they did not own it - since they had stopped paying them a royalty. The guys acknowledged that Stardock owned the name when they eventually got ahold of the company but little else. Negotiations were going fine until Stardock got heavy headed with them and tried to claim sole ownership of everything. Its a lot like the Wizardry fiasco and I hope the guys ultimately win out and not get their property stolen like Woodhead and Greenberg did.

Its pretty stupid for Stardock to complain about a Gofundme because that's what this Gofundme was all about - money for help taking on a giant corporation trying to bully them out what's their's.

Sorry can't agree with you'

They should of used that 2 million to make a new game with a different name.

I have no sympathy for developers who sit on an IP's for 15+ years then complain when another developer who also has rights to the name makes a new game.

Only lawyers win in this battle and those with the most money will win in the end.

They don't "also" own the rights, they only own the rights to part of it.

You can't make a product based on someone else's property because you have a ton of money and you hate the actual owners because they expect to get paid or just won't let you.

If it was legal to do that I would start my own disneyland or make my own spiderman movie.

Besides, if you look at the email exchange between them you'll see that Stardock stopped trying to negotiate in good faith.

Again, I point to Woodhead and Greenberg on how they got Wizardry stolen from them. Good on Ford and Reiche for protecting themselves from (and I can't believe I'm saying this) from greedy corporate bullies.

And I agree with you the only ones that win are lawyers - that's why Ford and Reiche are asking for help. Stardock was counting on two individuals not being able to stand up to their own lawyers but now they have thanks to the help from fans.

Couchpotato said:

They should of used that 2 million to make a new game with a different name.
I have no sympathy for developers who sit on an IP's for 15+ years then complain when another developer who also has rights to the name makes a new game.

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You are biased, dear Couch. And you messed it up. It was Stardock who complained that F+R announced their game, not vice versa.

And afaik F+R worked for Activision on something else. They didnt just sit on anything. Let me paraphrase you.. "Yes, its so evil that original creators returns to their own IP, how dare they?"

you said:

I think the problem was that stardock spent a lot of money pushing the ip; and R+F announcement came at that point piggy backing on stardock campaign.

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That is just misleading rhetorics:
- when some genre become more popular other devs and publishers always use this opportunity to create something similar. Its common thing in the industry. They are also commonly inspired by each other.
- Vice versa is true too. Stardock uses old successfull work of F+R to create something similar. And its ok again. But Stardock is too hypocritical to admit it.
- Stardock KNEW that F+R want to return to SC.
- Stardock didnt pay that much money in the auction compared to other IPs and there was no expensive PR campaign. In fact Stardock designed the game for old fans - it was understandable and easy to attract this crowd. But F+P can do the same. They dont really need PR of Stardock. To suggest that Stardock invest a lot and F+P somehow exploited them is again half-truth at best.
- F+R announced their game on 25th anniversary of the release of Star Control 2. Stardock uses that date for some announcement too. So nothing shady here. It is understandable and ok for both parties.

BTW According to F+R initially it looked like both parties will settle on. They did some things to respect each other. But then Stardock came with the claim that they own everything, every right for SC content and F+R are not original creators and they started to fill copyrights for every alien race etc. Why so suddenly now? That is what I called "Lawyer Control". I dont know what happened at Stardock, but I have theory that Stardock lawyers convinced Wardell that they are stronger and using aggressive methods they can intimidate F+P and make them to get better settlement (better for Stardock). It was stupid decision.


Now it seems that Stardock is in even bigger trouble, look here:
www.polygon.com/2019/1/3/18167140/star-control-origins-creators-dmca-stardock

There is nothing misleading about it. F+R timed their announcement after stardock brought attention to the IP. You claim others do the same thing and therefore it is misleading rhetorics; but that sort of like saying two wrongs make a right. F+R could have started work on their old IP (or that portion they are legally entitled) at anytime. They chose the timing to take advantage of someones else publicity.
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Given your explanation of why it was misleading rhetorics; i'm not even sure you understand the term as your statement generally support that is exactly what they did.

Farflame said:

That is just misleading rhetorics:
- when some genre become more popular other devs and publishers always use this opportunity to create something similar. Its common thing in the industry. They are also commonly inspired by each other.
- Vice versa is true too. Stardock uses old successfull work of F+R to create something similar. And its ok again. But Stardock is too hypocritical to admit it.
- Stardock KNEW that F+R want to return to SC.
- Stardock didnt pay that much money in the auction compared to other IPs and there was no expensive PR campaign. In fact Stardock designed the game for old fans - it was understandable and easy to attract this crowd. But F+P can do the same. They dont really need PR of Stardock. To suggest that Stardock invest a lot and F+P somehow exploited them is again half-truth at best.
- F+R announced their game on 25th anniversary of the release of Star Control 2. Stardock uses that date for some announcement too. So nothing shady here. It is understandable and ok for both parties.

BTW According to F+R initially it looked like both parties will settle on. They did some things to respect each other. But then Stardock came with the claim that they own everything, every right for SC content and F+R are not original creators and they started to fill copyrights for every alien race etc. Why so suddenly now? That is what I called "Lawyer Control". I dont know what happened at Stardock, but I have theory that Stardock lawyers convinced Wardell that they are stronger and using aggressive methods they can intimidate F+P and make them to get better settlement (better for Stardock). It was stupid decision.


Now it seems that Stardock is in even bigger trouble, look here:
www.polygon.com/2019/1/3/18167140/star-control-origins-creators-dmca-stardock

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Farflame said:

Now it seems that Stardock is in even bigger trouble, look here:
www.polygon.com/2019/1/3/18167140/star-control-origins-creators-dmca-stardock

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Woo they even fire employee that was working on the game, looks like the case is pretty closed.

And the game will never be maintained or updated. I would have request a refund.

Lucky Day said:

This is a mess that's been going on for years.

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Why people must suffer from someone else's fight? Making two people happy in the name of truth and thousands people unhappy doesn't sound like a solution to me even if my sympathy are with those who are weak and losing (as it goes).
If company goes down, thousands get no support, no expansions, no sequel. Sad it is.

Yep, I feel sorry for the employees. But their bosses are to blame for that.

Fun thing is, that I just received an advert from them that it's now 50% off and the code redeemable on steam

Lev said:

Why people must suffer from someone else's fight? Making two people happy in the name of truth and thousands people unhappy doesn't sound like a solution to me even if my sympathy are with those who are weak and losing (as it goes).
If company goes down, thousands get no support, no expansions, no sequel. Sad it is.

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For me all their games can disappear I don't care even if I have a few, I'd prefer Bioware come back make RPG.

Lev said:

Why people must suffer from someone else's fight? Making two people happy in the name of truth and thousands people unhappy doesn't sound like a solution to me even if my sympathy are with those who are weak and losing (as it goes).
If company goes down, thousands get no support, no expansions, no sequel. Sad it is.

Click to expand...

Had their bosses acted in good faith, this wouldn't have been an issue. They had a chance to settle but decided they wanted all the marbles and got greedy thinking R+F wouldn't have the cash to fight back. They didn't count on bad press and crowdfounding.

Couchpotato said:

They should of used that 2 million to make a new game with a different name.

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Misinformation. They had a 2 million goal but received less than 50k through their crowdfunding.

Eight days later and were still talking about this.

My view on this whole topic now is who cares.

Star Control: Origins has relaunched on Steam following this DMCA take-down.

“Stardock is happy to report that Star Control: Origins has been restored for sale on Steam.”

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