Activision: Indie Dev Contest Entrants Can Keep Their IPs

Andy Chalk

One Flag, One Fleet, One Cat
Nov 12, 2002
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Activision: Indie Dev Contest Entrants Can Keep Their IPs


Activision [http://www.activision.com] has clarified the terms of its indie game development contest, saying that entrants will keep ownership of their IP unless they decide to enter into a "completely separate" deal to have the company publish their game.

Announced in June, the Activision Independent Games Competition is meant to "underscore our commitment to supporting the creative spirit and innovation of developers," according to Executive Vice President of Studios Dave Stohl. But not everyone [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/101121-Developer-Blasts-Activision-Over-Indie-Game-Competition] sees it in such a generous light, in large part because of reports that finalists would be forced to surrender the rights to their IP if they wanted to continue to compete.

Activision, however, says that story is completely untrue. "There was some confusion to the way the rules were written," an Activision rep told Develop [http://www.develop-online.net/news/35294/Activision-rejects-IP-theft-indie-contest-rumour?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+developmag%2Fifbh+%28Develop%29]. "It was thought that if you enter the contest you automatically give up your IP rights to Activision. That's not true at all. What the wording in our rules meant was that if you enter the contest with your own game idea you have to prove that your idea belongs to you. That's all it meant."

Which isn't to say that Activision won't pursue the rights to a particularly impressive entry, but not until the contest is over and prizes have been awarded, including $175,000 to the winner and $75,000 to the runner-up. "If you win the contest, and we want to publish your game, we then enter into a completely separate discussion about who owns the IP," the rep added. "But by default the game designer keeps it."

The indie game development contest runs until August 31, with five finalists set to be picked by October, while a second contest is scheduled to run from October to March, with a small break between the two that will allow the rules to be "tweaked" if necessary. Interested in taking your shot? Grab an entry form and a full set of contest rules from activision.com [http://www.activision.com/ROOT/media/sweepstakes/indie_game/Indie%20Game%20Competition%20FINAL%20-%20WEB.pdf]. (PDF format)



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Jared

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Jul 14, 2009
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I see what they are doing...well, at least they are giving the option I suppose
 

Sixties Spidey

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Jan 24, 2008
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They can keep their IPs... in exchange for their souls.

Was I the only one who was thinking that as I was reading this?
 

SnootyEnglishman

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May 26, 2009
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It's nice that the option is there but I'm sure in the end Bobby Kotick will swindle his way into the mix.
 

Dorkmaster Flek

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Mar 13, 2008
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That's nice, but that wasn't one of the concerns I read originally. The concern was that Activision gets right of first refusal, so they can't shop their game around if they enter it in the contest unless Big Bad Kotick passes on it first.
 

Loonerinoes

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Apr 9, 2009
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"What the wording in our rules meant was that if you enter the contest with your own game idea you have to prove that your idea belongs to you."

So what they're really saying is: 'if we decide you suck then you forfeit your IP to us, but if we decide you don't suck then we'll allow you to ascend from the pits of 'indie' and into our moneyboat'?

So if this competition acquires all indie IP properties that enter except for the ones that they themselves deem to be 'successful' and are thus transformed into mainstream...how exactly is this helping the indie scene again?!
 

Naheal

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Sep 6, 2009
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The Cheezy One said:
learnt their lesson from IW did they?
well see
No, they didn't. They're trying to get indie devs to publish through them via the contest so that they'd have to sell their IP to Activision.
 

Thunderhorse31

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Apr 22, 2009
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buy teh haloz said:
They can keep their IPs... in exchange for their souls.

Was I the only one who was thinking that as I was reading this?
No, you weren't. Especially not with the added phrase:

Andy Chalk said:
"If you win the contest, and we want to publish your game, we then enter into a completely separate discussion about who owns the IP," the rep added.
Which basically says "If we like your game, we'll try to take it from you."
 

oktalist

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Feb 16, 2009
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Loonerinoes said:
"What the wording in our rules meant was that if you enter the contest with your own game idea you have to prove that your idea belongs to you."

So what they're really saying is: 'if we decide you suck then you forfeit your IP to us, but if we decide you don't suck then we'll allow you to ascend from the pits of 'indie' and into our moneyboat'?
No, it just means that you're not allowed to steal someone else's idea and try to pass it off as your own entry. That's just covering their arses.

Dorkmaster Flek said:
That's nice, but that wasn't one of the concerns I read originally. The concern was that Activision gets right of first refusal, so they can't shop their game around if they enter it in the contest unless Big Bad Kotick passes on it first.
I wasn't that interested in this the first time round, due to the concerns*. So what counts as passing on it, do you know? If, say, Activision offers a dev a deal, which the dev is not happy with, so they give Activision a counter-offer, which Activision aren't happy with, so they tweak their original offer, but the dev still isn't happy, and so on, would that count as it having been passed on? Or could Activision keep a game in purpetual rights-limbo by saying they are interested in an IP but not reaching a compromise with the developer?

EDIT:

* oh yeah, and also because I'm not a resident of the United States.
 

Loonerinoes

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oktalist said:
Loonerinoes said:
"What the wording in our rules meant was that if you enter the contest with your own game idea you have to prove that your idea belongs to you."

So what they're really saying is: 'if we decide you suck then you forfeit your IP to us, but if we decide you don't suck then we'll allow you to ascend from the pits of 'indie' and into our moneyboat'?
No, it just means that you're not allowed to steal someone else's idea and try to pass it off as your own entry. That's just covering their arses.

Dorkmaster Flek said:
That's nice, but that wasn't one of the concerns I read originally. The concern was that Activision gets right of first refusal, so they can't shop their game around if they enter it in the contest unless Big Bad Kotick passes on it first.
I wasn't that interested in this the first time round, due to the concerns. So what counts as passing on it, do you know? If, say, Activision offers a dev a deal, which the dev is not happy with, so they give Activision a counter-offer, which Activision aren't happy with, so they tweak their original offer, but the dev still isn't happy, and so on, would that count as it having been passed on? Or could Activision keep a game in purpetual rights-limbo by saying they are interested in an IP but not reaching a compromise with the developer?
Ah, yeah. You're right on the first point.

And basically yes...the fine print would still give me pause for thought. But I dunno. I suppose a fair bit of indie developers could be desperate enough for any kind of publishing support, so they'd enter the contest in the hopes of winning.

Then again, remembering what happened last year with Activision flat-out dumping Brutal Legend in spite of their previous deals doesn't help either. :p
 
Apr 29, 2010
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buy teh haloz said:
They can keep their IPs... in exchange for their souls.

Was I the only one who was thinking that as I was reading this?
I'm sure you're not the only one who thought that. But, I did misread the title and thought it said "Contest Entrants Can Keep Their Pants"..
 

Low Key

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May 7, 2009
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It took them a month to clarify that? Did they need to summon the devil for correspondence or something?
 

JusticarPhaeton

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Jul 29, 2009
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Hahahahah. Nice try activision, I still know you're a money-grabbing soulless machine.


Seriously, this is so left-field for them that it's quite bizzare...
 

Orcus The Ultimate

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Nov 22, 2009
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Andy Chalk said:
Activision: Indie Dev Contest Entrants Can Keep Their IPs


Activision [http://www.activision.com] has clarified the terms of its indie game development contest, saying that entrants will keep ownership of their IP unless they decide to enter into a "completely separate" deal to have the company publish their game.

Announced in June, the Activision Independent Games Competition is meant to "underscore our commitment to supporting the creative spirit and innovation of developers," according to Executive Vice President of Studios Dave Stohl. But not everyone [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/101121-Developer-Blasts-Activision-Over-Indie-Game-Competition] sees it in such a generous light, in large part because of reports that finalists would be forced to surrender the rights to their IP if they wanted to continue to compete.

Activision, however, says that story is completely untrue. "There was some confusion to the way the rules were written," an Activision rep told Develop [http://www.develop-online.net/news/35294/Activision-rejects-IP-theft-indie-contest-rumour?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+developmag%2Fifbh+%28Develop%29]. "It was thought that if you enter the contest you automatically give up your IP rights to Activision. That's not true at all. What the wording in our rules meant was that if you enter the contest with your own game idea you have to prove that your idea belongs to you. That's all it meant."

Which isn't to say that Activision won't pursue the rights to a particularly impressive entry, but not until the contest is over and prizes have been awarded, including $175,000 to the winner and $75,000 to the runner-up. "If you win the contest, and we want to publish your game, we then enter into a completely separate discussion about who owns the IP," the rep added. "But by default the game designer keeps it."

The indie game development contest runs until August 31, with five finalists set to be picked by October, while a second contest is scheduled to run from October to March, with a small break between the two that will allow the rules to be "tweaked" if necessary. Interested in taking your shot? Grab an entry form and a full set of contest rules from activision.com [http://www.activision.com/ROOT/media/sweepstakes/indie_game/Indie%20Game%20Competition%20FINAL%20-%20WEB.pdf]. (PDF format)



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Watching that picture of World of Goo made me want so bad the release of World of Goo 2 !!!