Activision Kills Long-Awaited King's Quest Fan Project
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
gotta hate corporate response to fan projects. It's like they are saying "we don't want to do it, but we will stop anyone who tries." It is like nintendo with the fan legend of zelda movie.
This just proves the fact that corporate businesses stopped giving two fucks about the fan community long ago, without exception.
I know it was posted earlier, but here is a link to the petition to save The Silver Lining.
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/savetsl
I think it's also time we start boycotting Activision, if they're going to be such dicks. Now is a great opportunity, as they're preparing to release three additions to Blizzard's most popular franchises -- Diablo III, Starcraft II, and WoW: Cataclysm. This is not the only douchey move Activision has pulled, and it's time they realized who's paying the bills for that company -- we are, by buying their products. So, let's stop.
http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/savetsl
I think it's also time we start boycotting Activision, if they're going to be such dicks. Now is a great opportunity, as they're preparing to release three additions to Blizzard's most popular franchises -- Diablo III, Starcraft II, and WoW: Cataclysm. This is not the only douchey move Activision has pulled, and it's time they realized who's paying the bills for that company -- we are, by buying their products. So, let's stop.
Well duh, They're protecting their intellectual property, not only as allowed by law but as required by law. If they don't do it from a legal standpoint they're essentially admitting they renounce their exclusive rights over said property. And if they instead reached an free licensing agreement with the Silver Lining they'd likewise be saying to the world they're open to giving licenses for free, which isn't what they want either.8bitmaster said:
As for why they wait for the projects to be advanced before they shut them down, it's simply because if the project isn't tangible it presents no legal threat so they can't actually do anything. You can't stop someone from wanting to infringe on your right, there has to be an actual infringement.
Just change the name and any graphics that were not owned by the creator. I don't get why people spend alot of time working on other people's intellectual property. His ideas are more important than the name if the game was any good anyway.
Another boycott! Yay! Or not. I'm buying Starcraft.Grahamburger said:
I'm just quoting this in the hopes that more people read it. I'm not Activision's biggest fan, but they were required to do this. If you want to blame someone, don't blame the "big corporate meanies", blame what looks to be international copyright law.Bobby_C said:
Wow that wasnt a dickmove. Oh wait. It was the biggest dick move the world of gaming has seen so far this year. This whole thing must be a joke. 8 years of work and some sadist activition puppy torturer decides they have to throw it all in the trash. This was the kid who broke your art class project in 2nd grade after you finally made it work. No one ever liked and still doesnt like this kid. Arsehats. Damn you activision i thought you were cool. The crushing fist of activition oppression crushed the hard work of those fans. Im going to pirate all activision stuff i can now. This was that kid that used to crush bugs under his finger and smile like everyone thought it was impressive. You suck activision.
Uhm, you're missing like a LOT of facts here.Bobby_C said:
Vivendi had already given a fan license to Phoenix Online Studios, a contract which required Phoenix Online Studios to finish the game and submit for approval by Vivendi -- giving the IP holders the final say on EVERY aspect of the project. When Activision became the holders of Vivendi's IPs they said they would honor all such contracts that were already in existence but would not create any new ones -- and THEN they ordered this cease and desist instead of honoring the contract already established.
This not only makes Activision needless douchebags, they are also liars.
So in a nutshell, "Activision exercised their legal right to protect their IP and that makes me mad so now I'm going to steal some stuff."Captain Blackout said:
That makes about as much sense as the assholes in Vancouver who "protested" the Olympics by throwing benches through store windows.
Well, thanks for the support.Chipperz said:
I'm just quoting this to reiterate, NO they were NOT.
Even if it were required by law the Intellectual Property holders police like that (which, btw, it isn't -- you've heard of fanfiction, right? That's legal BECAUSE the law does not require someone to protect their intellectual property like this!) the contract/license held between Phoenix Online Studios and Vivendi gave Vivendi COMPLETE control over the project. There was no risk of them losing anything in any sense.
Wouldn't it be easier to... I don't know... for Activision to bankroll the publication of the game and actually make a profit off the work of fans? Sure give them a royalty for their work but really, why can't they see the potential for profit here...
It is ironic given the nature of a corporate structure but the 'nose to spite the face' element seems far stronger then the drive for profits.
It is ironic given the nature of a corporate structure but the 'nose to spite the face' element seems far stronger then the drive for profits.
But actually no, the law does require one ot protect their IPs actively. Simply, whether it's an infringement or not depends on the threat level, so to speak, a subjective evaluation of how close to the original the derivative work is, and whether the intended audience will recognize substantial similarities between the two works. In other words, a Harry Potter fanfiction, for example, would be tolerated as long as it just stays a text file on the net. But put it in an actual book that looks like a Harry Potter book and you'll get a C&D.Grahamburger said:
Works the same for King's Quest. You can write a King's Quest fanfic and you'll be left alone. But make an adventure game, and simply because King's Quest is an adventure game IP your project becomes an infringement.
As for the contract, well, what's written in it? You can bet there's a provision for any of the two parties terminating it if they see fit. Whatever else may have been said is irrelevant if it isn't in the contract.
But a bigger sticking point as far as I can see from the Silver Lining site is they never mention Activision actually acepted to uphold the Vivendi contract at any point. They just mention negotiating with Activision when the IP changed hands, which tends to hint the contract had to be invalid already, or else it wouldn't have needed to be renegociated.
The only area where there's room for exploration is reusing their assets for another project as long as they remove everything that ties it to King's Quest, something they perfectly have the right to do. It's a classic C&D dickmove, requesting more than you're legally entitled to.