Interplay Buys Freespace Rights For a Cool $7,500

[IanDavis]

Interplay Buys Freespace Rights For a Cool $7,500

Kickstarter, anyone?

With [a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/123551-Double-Fine-UFC-Among-Claimants-in-THQ-Bankruptcy-Case]THQ's recent bankruptcy[/a], its many popular properties were split up for auction. Meanwhile, some older properties that had been laying fallow were also found and sold. Among the pile of detritus were rights to the classic space simulator Freespace. Interplay, the original publisher of the franchise back in the late 90's, has reacquired the Freespace rights for a paltry $7,500.

To put that sum into perspective, Gearbox recently acquired the rights to Homeworld from THQ as well. It's rumored that their winning bid was [a href=http://www.polygon.com/2013/4/22/4253408/gearbox-lands-homeworld-rights-pending-court-approval]$1.3 million[/a], which handily beat out the crowdsourced [a href=http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/savehomeworld-com-homeworld-3-and-homeworld-touch]Save Homeworld[/a] project. At $7,500, it almost makes me wish I'd have taken out a loan and snapped it up myself.

Volition developed Freespace, back before they made their name with Red Faction and Saints Row. It was published by Interplay, who also published classics like Baldur's Gate and Fallout. Despite that success, Interplay vanished for years, with only [a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/115027-Bethesda-And-Interplay-Settle-Fallout-Lawsuit]a few lawsuits[/a] to show signs of life. Now with a [a href=http://www.interplay.com/]fully functional website[/a] and some of their old IPs back, perhaps Interplay's making a comeback. Currently, both Freespace games are up for sale on [a href=http://www.gog.com/gamecard/freespace_2]GoG[/a], DRM-free.

This news comes courtesy of trademark filings, and Interplay has yet to announce any particular plans for the rights. That said, if it assembled a competent team together, I wouldn't object to a Kickstarter campaign...

Source: [a href=http://tsdr.uspto.gov/#caseNumber=85765250&caseType=SERIAL_NO&searchType=statusSearch]United States Patent and Trademark and Patent Office[/a]

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[major_chaos]

Gah I got the names mixed up for a second there and was all excited. Possibility of a new Freespace is nice, but I really want a new Freelancer goddamnit.

Capcha: Heart break. sums up my feeling exactly ;_;

 

[Starke]

Interplay's been pretending to continue to be a real company for nearly a decade now. All this will mean is another cycle of vaporware as "Interplay" claims they're working on releasing a new game in a venerable franchise, all the while, scouring for investors who they can sucker in, and then producing nothing beyond a few bits of concept art and maybe, maybe, a tech demo that looks like it was using cannibalized tech from the Unity Engine.

 

[sb666]

What was the last game interplay published? I'm amazed their still alive.

 

[oldtaku]

Well hell, I could have afforded to buy the rights for $7500, and I've got a better publishing record than Interplay in the last decade.

 

[Shamanic Rhythm]

Someone bought the rights to Freespace? I'm so exci- oh wait it's Interplay.

 

[Delerien]

7500$? We are talking about the same Freespace here? One of the maybe 3 or 4 games not even /v/ hates? Well i had given up hope to ever see a sequel to this game already. Now the hope is back, mixed with fear...

 

[Smooth Operator]

Well this is pretty bad news, for those who don't know Interplay is primarily a lawsuit troll company at this point with some shovelware projects on the side, they didn't buy this to make new games they got it to sue people.

 

[Irridium]

Wait, hold on, THQ had the Freespace license all along? And they didn't do anything with it? Fucking hell.

And now Interplay has it. Dammit. Frankly I'm surprised they even had $7500 to spare.

 

[Talaris]

Wait a sec, these IPs a won through bidding wars right? So does that mean no other companies thought that the Freespace franchise was worth more than $7500? My god truly, a dark day for gaming.

I play a lot of games, and everyone who knows me knows I hold Freespace 2 as the best videogame of all time (that's right, behind Half Life 2, Deus Ex and the like). I would honestly invest heavily in a kickstarter campaign, but really I just don't trust Interplay to handle this franchise respectfully anymore; they are not the same company as they were back in 1999.

 

[At_The_Gates]

Gah I got the names mixed up for a second there and was all excited. Possibility of a new Freespace is nice, but I really want a new Freelancer goddamnit.

Capcha: Heart break. sums up my feeling exactly ;_;

Check out Star Citizen. It's not a new freelancer but same creator. I doubt it will live up to My hopes for it but still expect a solid game at that minimum.

This news is such a mixed bag for me as I loved the freespace games and growing up interplay was to me as nintendo was to alot of people. The idea of them getting the original core team together again to give the series a proper ending would just about be a dream come true for me. Sadly I think the chances of that actually happening are about as good as me winning the lottery and I've never bought a ticket.

 

[Jumwa]

What would Interplay be without them languishing around, trying to parasitically leach off the nostalgia based hopes of gamers?

Expect a crappy Kickstarter to try and rob gamers soon.

 

[Rufus Shinra]

I could have bought it... *sobs*

 

[NLS]

As many have stated: could've bought this.
How in the hell did no one but Interplay offer up more than 7500$? That's an insult to a great game, and shows why this should've been a more open process. I'm pretty sure some debs from the SCP project or old Volition guys could've assembled enough to buy it. That way we would perhaps see a de(s)cent Freespace game once again. With Interplay, that's just gone down the shitter, and they'll hold onto it like a leechroach that never fully dies.

I call foul play. Also, I had implied dibs on the franchise.

 

[Sol_HSA]

I play a lot of games, and everyone who knows me knows I hold Freespace 2 as the best videogame of all time

You know, I had fond memories of freespace 2. I installed it recently and started playing. Stopped after getting fed up of the never-ending tutorial missions.

Although I suppose that's better than x3 something, where following the sole tutorial first off gets you killed, gives you wrong instructions (shoot missiles on a ship with no missiles?), and then just assumes you know all this crap. Happy flying..

 

[Signa]

I don't think I've entered a thread like this and had everyone echo my thoughts on the title.

"Freelancer confusion"
"I could have bought it"
"That moment when..."

Fuck, this pisses me off.

I wish Deep Silver got the freespace rights.

Actually, I disagree with this one. After what DS has done with the Sacred series, I'm not impressed with them. They might do a good job if Freespace was in their hands, but I'd count on it being a 2D browser game before being anything close to what we remember.