Promising Star Wars: KOTOR Fan-Made Reboot Gets Shuttered by Lucasfilm

[Hisshadow]

How about instead of shutting down the game... How about they notice we have an extremely talented fan here that has done something that franky looks great... and instead of cancelling this we are gonna back you and complete this game, even if you need help from an outside studio... we believen in the game.

 

[Derangel]

How about instead of shutting down the game... How about they notice we have an extremely talented fan here that has done something that franky looks great... and instead of cancelling this we are gonna back you and complete this game, even if you need help from an outside studio... we believen in the game.

They can't, even if they wanted to. EA has exclusive rights to produce Star Wars games. Plus, Disney wants nothing to do with major game development. Remember, they closed all of their internal development teams and also closed Lucasarts during the Star Wars purchase. Disney sold EA the rights in order to stay hands-off. Same reason Marvel Games is only a licensing house that works with outside studios and major publishers.

 

[DeathFromBelow]

Didn't Lucas send out C&D letters over UT99 Star Wars maps/mods back in the day?

You can't use other people's IP without permission. Sometimes that sucks, but I'd rather not live in a culture like China where everyone copies rather than creates. Hopefully EA's poor performance encourages Disney to consider 'altering the deal.'

 

[deton8]

If it's not for sale, why would it matter?

Probably because if a free product is available that's superior to whatever the paid alternative is, people will use that.

IMO software copyright should have a provision like music where parody and homage are not considered to be infringing. A not-for-profit fan-remake of what is essentially "abandonware" should be allowed, it's like the playable equivalent of fan art.

 

[zamardii12]

A not-for-profit fan-remake of what is essentially "abandonware" should be allowed, it's like the playable equivalent of fan art.

Absolutely this. There have been so many fan projects and remakes over the years I have kept track of that were shuttered by studios that it's ridiculous. I really feel bad for the fans and developers of those projects who empty hundreds of hours into something and see it shut down.

I honestly question these big corporations like Disney who do this. Like, we love your stuff... if you were to make a semi-decent Star Wars game again or whatever we would absolutely buy it regardless of any fan-made project. All this does when big companies shut down fan projects like this is show how incredibly petty they are... like "Let's take this little mod down so we don't lose out on XXX amount of dollars." Seriously Disney? Don't you own almost everything already? Don't think you're hurting for cash.

Also, let's be real... this KOTOR fan project probably would have never been finished anyway. Remember how long it took Black Mesa to come out... and they still haven't release Xen? So yeah... I highly question whether this would have ever been completely finished. At least the developers could have called it something else instead of "Knights of the Old Republic."

Kind of like how the developers for Shadow of the Colossus asked the developers of the fan made project to change their name of the title and they wouldn't shut it down... they ended up calling it "Praey for the Gods."

"Indie developer No Matter Games has changed the name of its survival action game to Praey for the Gods following a dispute with Bethesda.

The game's former title 'Prey for the Gods' displeased the publisher, which claimed the name infringed its own trademark for the Arkane-developed sci-fi game, Prey."

That itself is ridiculous. There is no way in hell that I would confuse Prey with Prey of the Gods. Fucking stupid copyright laws.

 

[zamardii12]

If you're going to do something like this. Keep it secret right up until it's done and then release it.

Once it's in the wild there isn't a damn thing anyone can do to stop it from spreading.

I imagine it's a lot better for the developers to be shut down before release instead of being sued for every penny they have after it's released. So pick your poison.

 

[deton8]

Absolutely this. There have been so many fan projects and remakes over the years I have kept track of that were shuttered by studios that it's ridiculous. I really feel bad for the fans and developers of those projects who empty hundreds of hours into something and see it shut down.

I honestly question these big corporations like Disney who do this. Like, we love your stuff... if you were to make a semi-decent Star Wars game again or whatever we would absolutely buy it regardless of any fan-made project. All this does when big companies shut down fan projects like this is show how incredibly petty they are... like "Let's take this little mod down so we don't lose out on XXX amount of dollars." Seriously Disney? Don't you own almost everything already? Don't think you're hurting for cash.

Also, let's be real... this KOTOR fan project probably would have never been finished anyway. Remember how long it took Black Mesa to come out... and they still haven't release Xen? So yeah... I highly question whether this would have ever been completely finished. At least the developers could have called it something else instead of "Knights of the Old Republic."

Kind of like how the developers for Shadow of the Colossus asked the developers of the fan made project to change their name of the title and they wouldn't shut it down... they ended up calling it "Praey for the Gods."

"Indie developer No Matter Games has changed the name of its survival action game to Praey for the Gods following a dispute with Bethesda.

The game's former title 'Prey for the Gods' displeased the publisher, which claimed the name infringed its own trademark for the Arkane-developed sci-fi game, Prey."

That itself is ridiculous. There is no way in hell that I would confuse Prey with Prey of the Gods. Fucking stupid copyright laws.

I can accept the name change though. It's like when pornos title themselves "This ain't Avatar" so they don't get sued by James Cameron, or something.

Understandably, big companies don't necessarily want their trademarks associated with a product whose content they have no control over. But really they should just set out an acceptable use policy for their IP with whatever content restrictions they deem appropriate (i.e. family-friendly, for Disney), and then let the modders go nuts.

 

[DeathFromBelow]

IMO software copyright should have a provision like music where parody and homage are not considered to be infringing. A not-for-profit fan-remake of what is essentially "abandonware" should be allowed, it's like the playable equivalent of fan art.

I think you're applying overly-broad definitions of 'abandonware' and 'remake.'

KOTOR definitely isn't abandonware under any reasonable definition. You can purchase/run KOTOR on modern systems. It even has an Android port.

A new engine to improve compatibility of the base game (like the Open Morrowind project) might have been acceptable, but this fan project was a complete rewrite of the actual game content with new assets and gameplay. It should have been obvious that it would be a no-go.

 

[deton8]

I think you're applying overly-broad definitions of 'abandonware' and 'remake.'

KOTOR definitely isn't abandonware under any reasonable definition. You can purchase/run KOTOR on modern systems. It even has an Android port.

A new engine to improve compatibility of the base game (like the Open Morrowind project) might have been acceptable, but this fan project was a complete rewrite of the actual game content with new assets and gameplay. It should have been obvious that it would be a no-go.

Admittedly I'm not familiar with this specific remake, but It was definitely not surprising it got shutdown, historically speaking.

It's just a shame more companies don't take the Valve stance to user-generated content (Black Mesa included original content IIRC) instead of perceiving any expression of fan interest in their IP as a challenge to their earning potential.