Tomb Raider Remasters Have Been Cancelled

rgMekanic

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Earlier this month we covered how the original Tomb Raider games were getting a free remaster, courtesy of Realtech VR. Now I'm afraid I have some bad news. DSOGaming is reporting that Realtech VR is cancelling the project.

It appears Square Enix didn't appreciate Realtech VRs ambition, sending them a cease and desist letter on the project, and has pulled all the videos of the project from YouTube. The remastered versions were essentially mods, that would require you to own the original DOS games on Steam in order to work, so it's a little surprising that the C&D letter got sent. Realtech VR stated in a tweet today "After this episode, we are refocusing on new projects involving Augmented Reality on iOS and VR on PC. We are not more committed on third party license anymore."

It's a shame, the remastered really looked fantastic, and could have brought a good amount of hype to the series for the upcoming Shadow of the Tomb Raider. Crystal Dynamics released an official statement that can be read below.

“While we always welcome passion and excitement for the Tomb Raider franchise, the remasters in question were initiated and advertised without seeking approval. As such, they were never officially sanctioned. Ensuring fans receive high quality gaming experiences is at the heart of our mission as a company, which requires all projects to go through proper channels. We are thrilled about the future of Tomb Raider, and cannot thank fans enough for their continued support and excitement for the brand.”
 
Games are made to make money, the love of the art is a zombie dragging a damaged leg.
 
And this is how Squeenix handles securom issues when you buy games directly from them.


Thank you for contacting SQUARE ENIX support,

We apologize for the trouble and inconvenience but unfortunately we are unable to help with the download of Final Fantasy VII. We are only able to help within 60 days of the original purchase as listed under the warranty, but anytime after that we can no longer assist. While we cannot help with the download now, we will be forwarding the feedback to the appropriate department.

Thank you for contacting the SQUARE ENIX Support Center.
 
So, a free remaster mod - that would only encourage more purchases of the original - was the subject of a C&D? That almost sounds like grounds for a shareholder lawsuit.
 
So, a free remaster mod - that would only encourage more purchases of the original - was the subject of a C&D? That almost sounds like grounds for a shareholder lawsuit.

Why would they encourage people to buy the old versions when they have new Tomb Raider games out now AND they can sell remastered version themselves later on their own?
 
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Why would they encourage people to buy the old versions when the have new Tomb Raider games out now AND they can sell remastered version themselves later on their own?

They would have to buy the originals in order to play the mod if they did not have it on steam already. If Square Enix wanted to issue their own remaster, they would have to spend money on developing it and hope that sales > dev costs.
 
Games are made to make money, the love of the art is a zombie dragging a damaged leg.

Usually games with healthy 3rd party modding communities make the most money, as more people buy them in order to use the mods than otherwise would have. Just look at Half Life with all of its mods and what that did to sales of the original game.

It's a shame that Square Enix decided to go petty on this one. They could probably have made more money if they had just been OK with it.
 
I was considering going back and playing these with the remasters seeing as I own all the games. But if they really haven't aged well, then oh well.
 
These games did NOT age well. Especially not the first one.


Dat low poly ass...

PUsXFz3.jpg
 
Translates as "We didn't think of it and get it out the door first, so we are shutting down the competition so we can offer our own version and sell it to you for a ton of money later"
 
This no different than Nintendo shutting down the Metroid fan projects. They have to protect their ip.
 
I am siding with square enix on this one. Square owns the rights and can tell them to stop what they are doing.

Not if they were only making a mod that required a person to possess the original game, as is stated in the OP.

Property rights allow a person to modify software which they possess a license for, and so a mod team is lawfully entitled to make and distribute a package that applies to a games, so long as it doesn't distribute or enable protected content. If it actually was a mod, and actually did require the original game to be applied to, then there's no legal grounds for S-E to C&D the project.

Either there is some inaccurate information about the remaster project, or S-E misinterpreted what the mod team was doing and the mod team is oblivious of what their rights are.
 
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Good. Make something new instead. Tired of all this lack of creativity.
 
I wish someone could dump about 100 gallons of Tomb Raider into the Assassins Creed franchise.
 
I am siding with square enix on this one. Square owns the rights and can tell them to stop what they are doing.

I agree - whilst it is a bit asshattish to just pull the rug out from under them, they really should have just gotten in touch in advance - can't be sure, but I'm guessing things would have turned out very differently.
 
Not if they were only making a mod that required a person to possess the original game, as is stated in the OP.

Property rights allow a person to modify software which they possess a license for, and so a mod team is lawfully entitled to make and distribute a package that applies to a games, so long as it doesn't distribute or enable protected content. If it actually was a mod, and actually did require the original game to be applied to, then there's no legal grounds for S-E to C&D the project.

Either there is some inaccurate information about the remaster project, or S-E misinterpreted what the mod team was doing and the mod team is oblivious of what their rights are.

For your own use. If you made a mod for Tomb Raider and you use it yourself, no one would know or care. If you distribute or sell, it's up to the company to stop you or allow you to continue.
 
Seems odd they would have even started this without SE's approval.
 
For your own use. If you made a mod for Tomb Raider and you use it yourself, no one would know or care. If you distribute or sell, it's up to the company to stop you or allow you to continue.

Distribution of personally-created content to be used with other software is fully allowed, as well. It's only distribution of copyrighted content that requires the permission of the copy-right holder. Custom textures, and fan-made code to be installed on top of other software is not copyrighted content by anybody except the person who created that custom content.

It is impossible for Square-Enix to C&D a mod that is a package of custom content to be installed on one of their games.


My guess is that the phrasing of the TR project, calling them remasters, confused SE into thinking that the group making this were going to distribute the full TR games with all modifications baked in, and not just a mod package to be installed on top of a pre-existing installation of TR that a person would require to use the mod.
 
i have actually never played any of the games from this series. any good ones recently?
 
katanaD, they rebooted the series, I find both games to be good (Tomb Raider and Rise of the Tomb Raider), but different from the originals. As for the originals, I started with Tomb Raider III and enjoyed them. I don't know if they hold up though.



I suspect that SE has remasters in the works that they're not ready to announce yet and didn't want this project confused with theirs.
 
i have actually never played any of the games from this series. any good ones recently?

The new reboots Fix Me mentioned are amazing. You can find the first one pretty cheap now, try it out.

The originals haven't aged well. Can't recommend those.
 
The early games are so old that it doesn't make sense for SE to do a cease and desist. Cut a deal that makes both parties happy.
 
Damn, and I was looking forward to watch and play with a upgrade of those fine curves....oh well, back to Anime for me.
 
It's too bad because a few years ago I actually got TR ( original ) to run in VR using the Rift(DK2) and Glidos's built in 3d t.v. feature ( on XP the trick did not work on W7 or newer and for some reason the DK2 flipped the aspect ratio on it's side but not the picture, I never bothered to work that bit out ) .
The simplicity of the older game's environments fit very well with the sensation of being new to VR ; because TR was one of the first truly "3d" games and the design reflected this helping ease people into 'thinking in 3d' on a 2d screen, this , as it turns out , carried over well for "trainer" VR gaming ( as the inner ear does not like to be lied to by the eyes )
For those of you that say the game hasn't aged well...remember it's a miracle or testament to genius that they were able to get it to run at all on the hardware of the time.
Core had to make many 'prisoner's dilemma' kind of choices. Such as the movement; it was either gimp the animations or restrict the movements ( to evenly measured steps ) , they chose the later ( to keep the animations cool ) which FORCES one to learn the movement rules of the game .
If you have never played it and would like to check out this video first : ,
Personally I like Glidos , but I think Paul is still charging for it ( which would make it cost twice what the game can be had for ), though I do think that the idea behind Paul's little server app would serve some clever developer well as his method of generating content for 3-d t.v.'s and monitors from could be used to make a an app that could generate usable 3d/VR for ANY GAME with little no no extra hacking/mods to the original...perhaps something like that is what Square Enix is cock-blocking.
 
Lolwat "ensuring high quality" Have they seen the state of the existing TR releases? Wasn't this going to just be mods, not sold? If so then SE can fuck off. Who is going to be hurt by them releasing this? Literally no one. No one is going to confuse it in their right mind for an official release. Not anyone who has half a brain anyway.
 
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