Ghosts 'n Goblins Kickstarter Shuttered By Capcom

[IanDavis]

Ghosts 'n Goblins Kickstarter Shuttered By Capcom

Before trying to Kickstart a game, make sure you own the rights first.

The indie startup Phantasm Studios had a dream: reboot the classic Ghosts 'n Goblins, but with modern touches. After all, Dark Souls showed that there's a market for brutal, soul-rending games, right? So, it looked to Kickstarter to breath life into the project, entitled Ghosts 'N Goblins - Demon World. The only trick was that it didn't actually own the rights to the franchise. Predictably, Capcom has swooped in and [a href=http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=218723]skewered[/a] the whole project.

Apparently, Phantasm's idea was to go ahead and fund the game, and ask Capcom for permission later. If that fell through, it'd just change the names, reasoning that Miyamoto did it back in the day. As Phantasm Studios explained, "In 1980 Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo created a Popeye video game but couldn't get the rights from King Features. He transformed Popeye to Mario, Bluto to Donkey Kong, and Olive Oyl to the Princess. This was the birth of Donkey Kong." However, it seems that Capcom didn't see things quite the same way, as the [a href=http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/phantasmstudios/ghosts-n-goblins-demon-world]Kickstarter page[/a] says that "Ghosts 'N Goblins - Demon World (Canceled) is the subject of an intellectual property dispute and is currently unavailable."

Phantasm's website still hosts the details about what it was planning, prior to the shut down. While the plan was to continue with the project anyways, I think that's pretty unlikely at this point. The trouble with its line of reasoning is that Phantasm basically used a popular Capcom brand to build excitement and funding for its own game, something that will still get you in trouble, even if you change the names later. There are many thing in life where improvisation is a fantastic path to success, but messing around with intellectual property is not one of them.

Source: [a href=http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=218723]Go Nintendo[/a] via [a href=http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2013-12-12-unauthorised-ghosts-n-goblins-kickstarter-shut-down]Eurogamer[/a]

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[Erttheking]

Well...yeah that one looked like it was kinda doomed to have this happen to it.

 

[Phrozenflame500]

Sounds like they're just going to switch the names and Kickstart it as a "spiritual successor". Probably their best bet.

 

[Dr.Awkward]

Problem is that Phantasm didn't do their homework fully - I think Miyamoto only had the game planned out when showing it to King Features, but there wasn't a working prototype yet. They already made one mistake by mixing up Princess Toadstool/Peach with Pauline, if that says anything.

Regardless, that is why the phrase "spiritual successor" is used when making games that are meant to follow in footsteps of a popular series, but uses a different name due to IP ownership. They threw their own game into an unnecessary risk, and got bitten at the end.

 

[Covarr]

Nintendo hadn't publicly announced a Popeye game before they changed it to Donkey Kong. At no point did they ever use Popeye to advertise the game or build hype. All the asset-changing and stuff happened behind closed doors, and wasn't known to the world until years later.

P.S. Thanks

 

[loa]

So, what will Capcom do with the Ghosts 'n Goblins franchise it so valiantly defended then?
Last thing they did was some ios titles that nickel and dime you with microtransactions.

3 years ago.

 

[Entitled]

Once again, copyright to the rescue.

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, and to protect creative works from the dangers of... being created.

 

[Covarr]

So, what will Capcom do with the Ghosts 'n Goblins franchise it so valiantly defended then?

This is Capcom, so they'll probably announce a new game, go a year without saying anything, and then cancel it as loudly and publicly as possible. You know, like they keep doing with Mega Man games.

P.S. Thanks

 

[MrBaskerville]

This looks nothing like Ghosts'n Goblins :/. They should have done their homework, they need the rights before they try something like this ad i'm kinda glad they haven't got them, if this is the visual style they are going for. Capcom needs to get their asses in gear and release a proper sequel to Maximo instead .

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

No kidding, anyone with a brain could have seen this coming a mile away. If you want to make a Ghosts n Goblins game then in contact with CAPCOM and negotiate.

 

[Chuppi]

So, what will Capcom do with the Ghosts 'n Goblins franchise it so valiantly defended then?
Last thing they did was some ios titles that nickel and dime you with microtransactions.

3 years ago.

You´re probably right, but that´s corporate style.
EA holds the rights to lots and lots of brands, they shurely never plan to re-animate, but they will
definitely sue your ass if you try to do so.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

what a great way to advertise, bet their next Kickstarter hits its target

 

[RandV80]

Once again, copyright to the rescue.

To promote the progress of science and useful arts, and to protect creative works from the dangers of... being created.

Copyright itself isn't bad, what's gone wrong is that business has stacked the deck copyrights don't really expire anymore and the concept of 'public domain' has become largely forgotten.

I'm as quick as anyone to jump on companies abusing copyright but I can't really fault Capcom on this one. Amateur development teams trying to gain support through nostalgic by blatantly taking the name of someone else game isn't really a good thing, and would only lead to a whole bunch of crap being made.

Especially when there are good ways to do these sorts of things. I'm looking at Might No. 9, or closer to the article story I've recently finished playing Rogue Legacy which seems to have a lot of G&G influence but stands on its own as a damn good game. Also, if the publisher wants to create new versions of these games, they do it by hiring an established development team. Megaman 9, Ducktales, etc.

 

[Vivi22]

Sounds like they're just going to switch the names and Kickstart it as a "spiritual successor". Probably their best bet.

They should have just done that to begin with. Only an idiot would try to kickstart something under a name they don't own without ever even approaching the owners to find out if they could work a deal. They were basically trying to raise money using the Ghosts 'N Goblins name which is misleading if nothing else, and probably downright illegal.

 

[SweetShark]

It could be more acceptable if the developer did a "clone" game as they did with the game "Mighty no. 9" [and I know in change is the creator of Megaman].

Take for an excellent example: The game "Maldita Castilla"


Do you see what i mean?