Starcontrol: Stardock screwing over Ghosts of the Precusors?

It was obvious Brad was going to pull this years ago. Why buy just the name and rights to the dumpster fire that was SCIII if not to try and wrestle it into control over the series?

Weird, Brad posted this hours ago. what is it, lawyer fuckery or some dumb shit?

What? This was literally the only good game I was looking forward to. Why must this always fucking happen?

It's always the Jews lawyers.

Oh man I just know what sort of bomb he's going to drop. Wardell doesn't take shit.

From my experience, when your hired firm is in automatic defense mode of an IP or patent, they just go to town with whatever they can get away with without consultation. It's a way for them to earn their keep or to let corporate know that yes they're doing something even when there's a downtime. I'm betting this was also the case with CDPR suing an old lady for having the same IP as someone who pirated Witcher 2.

t. IT guy for a law firm

PS. Every lawyer high enough in the chain of command I've spoken to is a goddamn unfeeling psychopath. Governments should fucking put these people on surveillance as I'm sure as shit they're hiding something gruesome somewhere.

Well Stardock posted their side of the story, and it still doesn't make muck sense

forums.starcontrol.com/486284

Maybe it's this.

Maybe I'm dumb but this sounds fair to me. Original team gets their rights back legally and can make their game and so can these new quacks. Am I missing something here?

No, he is shit.

You know what's actually shit? Every game with stardock's name on it.

The original Galactic Civilizations and Fallen Enchantress are alright.

sins of a solar empire is lovely

Nice try satan but SD is only a publisher

Sins of a Solar Empire is kind of like a TES game. It's a really nice platform for modders, and there are some really nice total conversion mods for it. I'm partial to the Halo mod, but there are some good Star Wars mods too. There's a Star Trek mod too, but I never played it because I'm not really into Star Trek.

Any update on this?

It doesn't make any sense. I think someone's legs are broken.

...

You remind me of the people who still Kojima being fired was a ruse.

Seems like this could shit up both games considering that gray area of whether Atari even had the rights at the point of the auction.

We've been waiting for 25 years =/= we've been working for 25 years. They were too busy for the past 25 years making Skylanders and shit.

This situation also reeks, and mostly Paul and Fred's side if you ask me. Stardock has over the past years stated more than once what they reiterate in the link in so I'd like to see some proof of them trying to use the classic aliens or stop them from making their game.
And it doesn't matter what their opinion is about Atari's rights to the game at the time they sold it, the contract they signed is what matters. And knowing Atari, it most likely means Paul and Fred don't have a leg to stand on and Stardock could sell SCII-branded toiletpaper if they felt so inclined.

Except the vanilla game is damn fucking good. At least with all the expansions up to Rebellion.

Ye, but he doesn't take any.

That's irrelevant to the assertion that the rights they have don't permit sale. And he just dances around that. It doesn't matter how long they've been sold without permission or how much money they give back, so why even say that?
This is pure horseshit. A business would never be excited about being cucked out of the core value of the franchise and forced to pull another SCIII. And they certainly weren't 'freed' by this since they'd already been forced to make their own characters and story prior to the announcement.
In other words, Paul and Fred are right and Stardock is preventing them from making their game as they're still arguing about some sort of contract that Stardock insists permits it.

Bullshit. It’s reasonable to ask why they didn’t stop the game sales 10 years ago if this was a problem?

Stardock has an exclusive license to the aliens. They could have used the. If they wanted but chose not to. This has been talked about plenty before.

You can’t have it both ways. Stardock either has the power to prevent their game in which case just sign a damn form releasing that limitation or they don’t have the power in which case why are they bitching in public?

best strategy game ever imho

Pretty sure he takes it out to coffee

Now that the skylanders toys are drying up, and stardock put marketing towards sparking interest in a new star control, they want to be cunts about it?

You can’t sell your rights then get mad you sold your rights.

Stardock is the legit license holders because they bought it off Atari. Stardock just wants the two chucklefucks who have been sitting on their asses for the better part of more than two decades to get a fucking lawyer and write up an agreement that their project is in no way connected to Stardock's. The fact that they haven't sent them a cease and desist yet is just evidence of Stardock's goodwill in all of this. They can legally do so anytime they want and there's nothing those two idiots can do about it.

When did Atari acquire it? Did they buy it at Acclaim's fire sale?

Brad is trying to Jew Paul and Fred. He's representing their game to media as part of his expanded "Star Control" universe and simultaneously trying to force them into into an agreement where they'd be tied to Stardock if they want to continue with their game. Paul and Fred want nothing to do with them and want to go their own way. Brad knows that means his game is going to end up like "The Bureau: XCOM Declassified" since his shitty company is going to be competing with people who turn everything they touch to platinum and is trying to keep Star Control from just walking out the door.

Stardock doesn't own the aliens and story, and both parties agree on this. They only own the name. They have nothing.

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They do not.

PF own the IP and it is exclusively licensed to the publisher, in this case Stardock.

And why the fuck are PF coming out of the woodwork now? To ride on Stardock’s coat tails now that they’ve put in the effort to bring Star Control back.

Hello newfriend, 40 year old here to answer your questions about the time before you were alive. Paul and Fred have tried multiple times to get a publisher for a Star Control IV throughout the years and failed. The last time they tried pitching it, they got roped into doing Skylanders instead. As is usual with Paul and Fred, they turned it a massive success and have been busy for quite a while with that. They said they'd come back to it after Skylanders, and here we are.
It's adorable you think the guys who created SCII and Skylanders need to ride on a developer's coat-tails known for galciv2, gamergate, and rent-seeking.

So why the fuck are they making these bitchy posts? Why wait until now?

You think it’s coincidence they wait until a new Star Control game goes into beta for them to make their announcement of a new game and then make little ankle biting posts?

They haven’t even made a god damn website for their game.

Instead of bitching they should make their game. Duh.

Why are you sucking Stardocks dick so much user? They are being kikes, stop defending them.

Because Stardock's lawyers got in touch with them and are trying to force them into an agreement if they want to continue making their game. They're also apparently illegally selling their old games. You'd be pretty bitchy about this, too.
That's not the way Paul and Fred work. They vanished during SCII's development (we thought it was likely canceled) and then just reappeared one day with a finished game.

And your evidence for this is…?

The creators own words. It's a known fact that they have wanted to make a new SC game for years. You would have to be idiotic to think they are only doing it now to fuck over Stardock for some reason.

Not to fuck over Stardock, to ride on the free publcity that the new game is getting.

And like it or not, they can’t make a new SC game. Stardock owns SC.

They can make their own game but can’t call it SC. Maybe they should have bought the rights to SC if it mattered so much to them.

The public statements of Brad, Paul, and Fred. Here, I'll spoonfeed you like the faggot you are:
forums.starcontrol.com/486284/page/1
dogarandkazon.squarespace.com/
- They all agree Paul and Fred own SCII's story elements.
- They all agree Brad owns the trademark "Star Control".
- Brad's angry that Paul and Fred call their new game a direct sequel to their old game, saying it builds on "good will and brand awareness". Paul and Fred created that good will and brand awareness, but Brad believes he has purchased them.
- While Brad complains about this 'association' with his Star Control requiring entering into an agreement with Stardock, Brad is simultaneously representing Paul and Fred as associated with his 'Star Control' against Paul and Fred's wishes to the media and constantly pressures to "work together for mutual benefit".
- Paul and Fred claim stardock's lawyers are restricting them from making their game without entering into an agreement. Brad claims he is not restricting them, but he also claims that they must be released from their restrictions, by entering into an agreement.
It should be clear what game's being played here.

The game isn't getting very much publicity user. The average video gets pretty low views. If anything it would be bad to release the game now with competition but considering the fanbase is small but dedicated they would likely buy both no problem.

They own star control 3. They don't own any of the alien races or lore.

Do you know what a trademark even is? Try calling your new game the sequel to Grand Theft Auto and watch how fast the hellfire falls.

Why are you defending kikes?

It’s clear what’s being played here. You’re just too stupid to see that it’s you.

Back to reddit, kike.

I will right after I get done paying your mom the 5 bucks for sucking me off.

You surely showed him

Basically one group owns Star Control II from buying a previous contract but they do not own the rest of the franchise and therefore do not actually have full control of the IP. What is happening here is that one group's lawyers is trying to use this game as a focal point to wrestle total control of the franchise away from the other party by forcing them to sign an agreement on their terms. This process is long and draining of resources of the weaker party (resources that would've been used productively for something else). As for why Stardock is waiting for it now, they're not waiting this dispute has been going on atleast a few years ago.
Finally Paul and Fred saying that they must release themselves of that restriction by signing an agreement is the legalese way of saying yes, the reason they aren't outright saying yes is deflection and hoping you won't try to read between the lines. Also a common tactic.

The Saga continues:
dogarandkazon.squarespace.com/blog/2017/12/4/star-control-i-ii-and-iii-arent-for-sale-on-gogcom-any-more-how-come

The Ur-Quan Masters HD Project is a free, vastly superior experience. Did we mention it's free? Fans have been dedicated to improving UQM for 15 years and it is awesome! Hopefully Star Control I and III will also become available for free in the near future.

We reached out to GOG who said our games had been offered to them by Atari as part of a large batch of older Atari products. We then contacted Atari to let them know that we were the original authors and owners of the copyright to the games and that we had not given permission for them to republish our work. Atari checked with its lawyers and wrote back confirming our claims, apologizing to everyone for the mistake and informing GOG to remove the games from sale and pay any royalties earned to us.

Holy fuck just reach a fucking deal already, you have a small niche audience who wants these games to be made and will surely buy both since they're dime a dozen on this fucking industry.
Instead we might not even one if this fucking drama keeps on.
Christ, they're fucking over not only each other but themselves over this shit.

The people that rise to the top are the most corrupt people imaginable. They force out those that are there for the love of the game, that are there because it is their passion and the industry has nearly died because of it until digital distribution changed that by showing that these creative people were right.

wew lads a lot of implications in your posts. Fact of the matter is the dude has bragged about how many females they have on staff through diversity hires. Galactic Civilization wasn't exactly received well and despite being on the humble bundle monthly still has less owners than 2.

He did (it was either ralph retort or Reddit to link to.)
please use archive.is/intolerant-antis-turn-on-brianna-wu-over-brad-wardell-truce-0303015/

Pretty obvious what's going on. A lot of Stardock shills out en mass today.

Fuck off Brad, they are under no obligation to reach a deal because Stardock is abusing the legal system.

If I understand it right, its an attempt to get the names of Paul and Fred associated with Star Control origins. This was done, because everyone has lost faith in Stardock and their previous game was a massive flop.

Its sad that Stardock is putting more effort here trying to seem like /ourguys/ than into making their games good.

Brad's attempting to force them into an (((agreement))) as he claims the announcement of a direct sequel to Paul and Fred's IP (they all agree the story/aliens belong to Paul and Fred) necessarily makes use of the "goodwill and brand recognition" (his own words) that Brad believes he purchased. Brad attempting to prevent them from making their game unless they agree to collaborate with Stardock was the last straw and Paul and Fred are going to slap his grabby hands starting with him trying to appear as if he owns the copyright to the old games. That puts his kikery in check - if he pushes this 'you owe us for use of the goodwill you created' bullshit to try to steal their game, Paul and Fred can fire back with copyright violation.

wait, i though stardock were cool about them making their own videogame?

They were merely pretending. Brad wants it under his 'Star Control' umbrella and has apparently been applying pressure for months.

As long as galciv III is still a worse game than II DA I'm open to new games attempting to dethrone it in my mind.

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Why are IPs such a big deal? Can't they just make a game with the same gameplay but have a different story and characters?

you forgot the part were they told everyone they know a way to find all the people that pirate the game and causing a shitstorm about it.

archive everything!
archive.is/ZbTIH
archive.is/vysZm

archive everything!
archive.is/SFgvl

Welp, i dont know what is happening anymore, i will just wait and see
this shit is going to git gud.

Brand recognition.

MUH LORE!

Fuck off Holla Forums. Holla Forums isn't a nazi safe space.

dohoho, no, everyone wants to hang you guys.

They already have if you've noticed their latest games.

That may have been Theater for rubes. Here is how I am understanding things.

It's all a fucking complicated mess. Seems to be toys for bob aren't interested in money, as much as permission, and wardell thinks it's okay to make their own game, but says mentioning it is related to star control somehow associates it with IP he owns, and that's bad.

I'm trying to figure out if you're a retard , fan boying, or Fred.

Evidence required
alistdaily.com/strategy/stardocks-strategy-bringing-star-control-back/

How about this, faggot? Stardock just pulled the original Star Control games from Steam, the ones Paul and Fred claimed they didn't have the rights to and were illegally selling.
That's an admission by Stardock they were Jewing Paul and Fred. Brad's trying to bully them into an (((agreement))) and it looks like he's now getting slapped by their lawyer. What a lying piece of shit.

Also amusing, if you check the stardock forum thread, Brad's gone from 'they should talk to a lawyer' to 'their lawyer is threatening me :('. Buckled knees like the schoolyard bully he is.

i guess we just need to wait and see implying anyone will post how the whole damn thing will end and what really happened

He bought very little. He owns the trademark, he claims to own the "goodwill and brand recognition", but they all agree he does not have the content IP (story, aliens), and from pulling the old games from Steam his disputed claim that he had resale/copyright rights sounds like it's busted, too. He claims to have pulled them because they were 'threatened' by Paul and Fred's lawyer, but if you believe you really own something you don't pull it when someone claims otherwise.
He was bullshitting. He admits he doesn't have the rights to use the ST2 races. He'd certainly have used them if he could since it's the majority of the value of the "Star Control" IP he was trying to buy, but since he can't he pretends he's being the big guy for you.
That's bullshit. I got Brad to admit over on the Stardock thread that he's trying to force them into an agreement to "remove restrictions" (his claim) on their sequel as he claims their announcement of a sequel makes use of the "goodwill and brand recognition" he bought. They've apparently been pushing that since at least October behind the scenes before Paul and Fred decided to lawyer up. Brad's being super weasily and claiming they're not restricting them, just 'helping' by offering to remove restrictions he claims exist. In other words, they're pushing claims of restrictions on the project.

Honestly, I want to think that it's either this, or it's some power play to force Stardock into giving what rights they do have back to them. We've not been given any substantial evidence on what's happening. It's nothing but an accusation with Stardock just denying it happened.

You brought up the Humble Monthly Bundle more times than they've sold bundles. Unrelated to what's at hand, it's worth noting that shit actually doesn't sell compared to normal bundles.

Stardock pulled the old games from Steam today. That's an admission by Stardock that Stardock falsely claimed they own those rights. Paul and Fred were right. So what else is Stardock lying about?

Ah shit, this means one of two things!
1) Neither Pual&Fred or Stardock own the rights as evidenced by Paul and Fred removing the game from GoG.com.
or
2) this is a standard reaction, from a company currently in a spat, and possibly going to fight a lawsuit. Keeping this game up is only going to draw more Ire from Paul and Fred, making a temporary removal make sense. Further more, being proactive and taking the product down will mitigate damage during a lawsuit even if you're in the clear.

Given the duel possibility, and not at all the ridicules lengths you'll go in a attempt to besmirch stardocks name; i once again request evidence.

Hell i got another situation like this. Alex Mauer going after the developers of River City Ransom for using her sound effects, even though she made them under contract. Instead of fighting the devs just remove all the sounds and are going to have another artist create new sounds. Obviously these devs are guilty!!! but wait, she also went after the devs of Star Mazer, and they got her to sign a contract forcing to give up any claims on their sound effect and by the sounds of it also any claim against any other developer. if so this is proof that Alex is in the wrong since she wouldn't sign the contract if she was in the right about the River City Ransom situation.

> Brad's trying to bully them into an (((agreement)))
Again, another wild assertion without evidence.

You're a fucking moron! You take it down in case of the worst case scenario and let the lawyers duke it out. Then once the dust is settled you put it back up.

Are you retarded? They said they did this to force Brad's claim of ownership into the light and Brad immediately folded and is crying on his forum about being 'threatened' like a little bitch.
When you're asserting you own something and don't have to take orders you don't take orders to take it down. Go send a letter to some developer claiming you own their game and are going to sue and see if they take it down as a standard reaction. Try Battlefront II, I'm sure EA will get right on that. Fucking moron.

Paul and Fred pulled the games from GOG. I guess that's an admission that Stardock is right, isn't it? It is if we follow your logic. I'm curious what other lies are hidden by Paul and Fred.

Logic never was your strong point.

That is not how copyright claims work, nor does a lot of legalese work. Or even politics. Christ it's like idiots who apologize that is legally an admittance of guilt and as soon as you do that you're fucked in court.

...

really makes you think