THQ Auctions Off Remaining IPs

[DTWolfwood]

Some1 revive Homeworld!

Dear god i thought Activision had owned that franchise when Relic didn't have the license... But to see it show up here in THQ's auction, WOOOOOO!

 

[tmande2nd]

UP next:
EA BUYS OUT HOMEWORLD AND TURNS IT INTO A FPS WITH TACKED ON MULTIPLAYER!

Search your feelings you know it o be true.

 

[kajinking]

God I hope someone decent buys up Supcom and destroy all humans both are in serious need of a reboot. Honestly imagine destroy all humans with a decent budget and started from scratch again.

 

[Ralen-Sharr]

Darksiders and Homeworld are the only two franchises here I give a shit about, tbh.
Well, and maybe Red Faction to a degree. It was pretty ok, and could become much better in the right hands.

As a fan of the original Total Annihilation I found Supreme Commander to be pretty good, but the series went down the "simplify and streamline" route and that, imho, sucked all the fun out of it. It was the last RTS series I played before I pretty much gave up on the genre and moved to RPGs which, while often very streamlined, told much better stories to compensate.

check out planetary annihilation, made by the same guys that did TA and SC.

I do hope that Darksiders and Homeworld find a decent home that will not just let the IP collect dust.

 

[synobal]

It would be neat if Runic Games could pick up Titian Quest.

 

[Norrdicus]

The company that made Titan Quest isn't around anymore IIRC, so I guess I don't care much about who exactly buys it.

Well actually, they are around in a sense as Crate Entertainment.

They're the ones making Grim Dawn, which is "Titan Quest With Lovecraft". They posted the first bit of artwork on the TQ forums right around when Iron Lore went under

 

[shiajun]

SEGA must buy Homeworld. Any other company will miss the point of the series. Relic has got to get its baby back.

 

[putowtin]

Ok guys,
we all chip in a fiver and buy us something
what'd you thing? Homeworld or Darksiders?

 

[AlexanderPeregrine]

Actually.

If they don't get bought. Does this mean they enter public property? Wouldn't that be a good thing? If everyone could make awesome games using these IP's as a basis?

Oh who am I kidding of course not. The evil empire of the Mouse made sure that could never happen again. Gotta make the moneys.

Right now, the bankruptcy trust owns the IPs and if they don't sell, they'll be held until somebody comes forth with an offer or 95 years after the first publication date. At this stage, THQ can't even declare it public domain. If it's any consolation, these copyrights are poorly defended and while a corporation making a big ticket item is unlikely, fan projects are very unlikely to get shut down.

 

[Something Amyss]

I'll give you a tenner for the rights to Destroy All Humans! That was a fun game.

Maybe this sale will mean we'll see some action out of these old IPs.

Though even I wouldn't want to buy the rights to uDraw. They'd have to pay me. I've seen those things sell for $5, and it was a big factor in tanking the company.

Probably why it's part of a package.

 

[Something Amyss]

If they don't get bought. Does this mean they enter public property?

No.

Wouldn't that be a good thing? If everyone could make awesome games using these IP's as a basis?

It would be.

Oh who am I kidding of course not. The evil empire of the Mouse made sure that could never happen again. Gotta make the moneys.

All the Mouse did was make it so that trademarks can (effectively) be renewed indefinitely. That has no place here, however. None of these would be eligible for the public domain at this point, anyway.

 

[tangoprime]

...what about Saints Row? Why hasn't anyone here even mentioned Saints Row yet?
Edit: Nevermind, looks like Deep Silver already got ahold of the Volition stuff.

 

[Spitfire]

Come on Sega! Pick up the Homeworld Ip, AND DO SOMETHING WITH IT!

nooooooooooooooooooooooo
not sega. for fucks sake not sega.

i have the feeling EA is going to snatch the homeworld i.p.

Why not Sega? Sega owns Relic (You know the people who made Homeworld 1 and 2) and they also make Total War which is a badass series of games.

Sega has expressed a very restrictive attitude towards the copyright of some of its IP's [http://www.destructoid.com/sega-forcing-removal-of-shining-force-videos-on-youtube-239581.phtml], which if they decide to do with Homeworld as well, it could potentially be very damaging to the series and to its modding community.

Also, Sega indeed owns Relic, but the Relic of 1999-2003, and the Relic of today, are two quite different entities. Some of the key developers who have helped create Homeworld are no longer employed by Relic, most notable of which in my opinion is Rob Cunningham, who not only left Relic, but he created his own studio, BlackBird Interactive, which incidentally, is currently working on a game that looks much more in-tune with Homeworld [http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2013/01/17/interview-homeworld-dev-tells-all-about-new-rts-hardware/#more-138464] than anything Relic has put out in the past 10 years.

 

[Nghtgnt]

You know, I'm gonna throw my hat in with the "I hope Sega buys Homeworld" crowd. Of all the major companies that might buy it they seem to be the best, though I'm basing this solely on the Total War series and the hope that even without a lot of the original Relic people, as Spitfire pointed out above, there will at least be enough of the institutional culture left to make a good game.

It's odd, so often game publishers are viewed as villains (EA, Activision), when did Sega, which definitely has been around long enough and has been big enough to earn animosity, become someone we root for?

And here's another one: looking at the list I noticed Full Spectrum Warrior is being sold as well. I'm really curious to see who ends up with that and what they would end up doing with it. I loved the concept of essentially an Infantry squad leader simulation, but the execution perhaps could have been a nit netter.

 

[Yellowfish]

It's odd, so often game publishers are viewed as villains (EA, Activision), when did Sega, which definitely has been around long enough and has been big enough to earn animosity, become someone we root for?

Well, I don't really "root" for Sega. It's just that they own Creative Assembly but don't seem to get in the way of things too much. You know, kinda like publishers used to be in the good old days. At leats that how it looks from the outside, I don't really know how much creative control do CA have.

Also, Relic could've been bought by EA, the guys who made Bioware develop an MMO.

 

[aelreth]

Hopefully these IPs will be bought by someone that will open a kickstarter.

 

[Darks63]

The company that made Titan Quest isn't around anymore IIRC, so I guess I don't care much about who exactly buys it.

Well actually, they are around in a sense as Crate Entertainment.

They're the ones making Grim Dawn, which is "Titan Quest With Lovecraft". They posted the first bit of artwork on the TQ forums right around when Iron Lore went under

that actually sounds pretty cool ty for the info.

OT: I wonder if Bliz is gonna buy Titan quest so they can rape it.. I mean make another one? or just to bury the franchise so they have less competition.

 

[KiKiweaky]

UP next:
EA BUYS OUT HOMEWORLD AND TURNS IT INTO A FPS WITH TACKED ON MULTIPLAYER!

Search your feelings you know it o be true.

Great comment looooooooooool I could see them breaking it alright, maybe a decent development team might get their hands on it (you never know the boss could be a big fan of homeworld) and make another belter of a game I really enjoyed the other ones. Great space sims are rather few and far between, frontier conquest wars was pretty good if a bit silly at times, I'm playing sword of the stars at the moment and I'm really enjoying it a large enough game could last for weeks if you wanted it too.

Re-playability is also very high as it has a dynamic tech tree so each time you never get the same stuff you had in your last game, for example heavy lasers are great for destroying big ships but if you don't get them you may have to resort to large torpedoes attached to your capital ships or cover your dreadnaughts with masses of large caliber guns... mmm I might go and play it now

 

[Ethan Bewley]

Someone pick up Vigil games so we may have the slightest chance at getting Dark Millennium. But you know what they say; "Expect the worst, hope for the best."

Although I am fairly sure Vigil has already been disbanded.