Replay Games Kickstarter / KQ/SQ/LSL Rights

[jonathanfrisby]

Bit off topic, but someone from Replay Games mentioned trying to get the rights to King's Quest in their Leisure Suit Larry Kickstarter comments. Also SPACE QUEST!

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Replay Games about 1 hour ago
@Perdition - we're way ahead of you!! Scott is ready to jump on board, we already spoke to him. Mark, however, can't since he works for Foundation 9, a developer / publisher and he would have a "conflict of interest" as he put it. Having said that, however, the last game, Space Quest 6, was all Scott & Josh (no Mark Crowe involvement) so we think we can hold pretty true to the SQ franchise with those two geniuses on board. We're in the middle of negotiating the rights for King's Quest as well as Space Quest & Police Quest too. It all depends on the success of this first game, though.....everybody wants to see how much demand is out there.
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Doesn't mean much.. Unless Telltale is passing on the franchise? They ought to jump on that before Replay gets the muppets back together!

[Irishmile]

I guess.. I would rather see how the LSL game is.. I cant really say I am impressed with what Replay games have to offer right now.. all their games look like cheap mobile games that didn't take much to make.... Right now we have not seen much of the LSL game they have been making.. I did pledge $100 mainly because Al Lowe is involved.... I hope it does well so we eventually get a brand new Larry game.

[thom-22]

Agree, Irishmile. I'm quite leery about taking advantage of PC adventure gamers' love for old franchises and using the funds to make games targeted at the mobile device market. I thought I saw another one that just came out with the same kind of issue.

I'm not sure I'm thrilled with the idea of Kickstarter for remakes, either. Fan remakes, where you can feel the love and dedication put into them and money is not part of the equation, are far more appealing to me. And I thought the DF project was exciting in large part because it's about new IP created for the purpose; the investment is in the creative people who have proven track records (in adventures as well as gaming more generally) and structural resources for producing for PC/console.

With King's Quest, I'd have to guess they're talking about remakes there, too. At least I can't imagine Telltale wouldn't have gotten exclusivity for new, original titles. But who knows?

I was never a Larry fan anyway, so I'll pass on this one. I have to wonder whether he'll have the same appeal today as he did 20 years ago. To me, Freddy Pharkas was Al's best work.

[Irishmile]

Ooooh I really liked Freddy Pharkas as well...

[jonathanfrisby]

I agree it'd be nice to see a new game in the series, rather than and old one.. But Sierra did always have a sort of business-like demeanor that might lead one to think "we ought to re-introduce everyone to the franchise" -- that seems to be the thinking here, which does seem wrong, considering it's fans that will make this happen.

But... Replay Games does have some strong claim to franchise, being made up of a bunch of Sierra people (regardless of the webgame crap they've made in the interim).. Check out their about page.

The best I can guess is they ran out of money in making the remake (they posted some comment about venture capital people fleeing after they acquired the LSL rights).. And it's also probably a good idea to run with what ideas they can while the Kickstarter thing is hot. Not the perfect DF-level scenario, but overall a good thing.

[BagginsKQ]

I concur with the kickstarter system. Not that big of a fan of it. It kinda reminds me of a ponzi scheme. Edit: Apparently FAQ for Kickstarter admits it is technichally a 'pirate pyramid scheme'. So somewhat dubious legality. Then again not sure it fits classic pyramid scheme. But with little more research they are already under one or two lawsuits over the issue.

However, I think maybe official for KQ1-4, PQ1-2 (the original PQ1 EGA, not based on VGA), and SQ2-3 might be nice. This is assuming thr remakes were done in HD hires art... Like the LSL updates?

I don't see much need to update games that were originally VGA right away, although it would be akin to the MI special editions (Infact I'd prefer the ability to switch versions on the fly seen in those games with these kinds of updates.)

Gotta be careful with updating space quest IV and 5 to avoid messing up the EGA/VGA jokes... Or at least update the jokes to HD/VGA. Also keep thr ability I switch to the old versions of the game.

[nachtritter]

My biggest issue on the LSL Kickstarter thing is that Replay Games were ALREADY working on the LSL remakes. They had even announced, last Fall, that they were remaking the whole series in HD.

And now that they see the Double Fine Adventure, Wasteland 2, and Takedown project succeed, they decide to launch a Kickstarter for LSL???

Yeah, right.

Asking people to fund a project you were developing anyway, really, Al?

[thom-22]

Originally Posted by BagginsKQ

I concur with the kickstarter system. Not that big of a fan of it. It kinda reminds me of a ponzi scheme. Edit: Apparently FAQ for Kickstarter admits it is technichally a 'pirate pyramid scheme'. So somewhat dubious legality. Then again not sure it fits classic pyramid scheme. But with little more research they are already under one or two lawsuits over the issue.

Who are you concurring with? Nobody questioned the Kickstarter system, only this particular project. Kickstarter is nothing at all like a Ponzi scheme and I seriously doubt its legality is dubious. The lawsuit that's been in the news is about a patent for crowdsourcing, not about problems within the system. It wouldn't surprise me if there are or will be lawsuits concerning liability in the event of a major project fail, but Kickstarter's TOS makes it pretty clear that it does not guarantee or take responsibility for delivery of rewards. I suspect that's sufficient to indemnify them against any claims.

Like everything else in this world, it's up to participants to understand what they're doing and what they can expect in return when they hand over their money. If people find these projects interesting and are willing to participate given the terms, it's good there's a system that facilitates contributions. For myself, I'm unlikely to give to any but the most solid and "special" projects; so far only the DFA has met those qualifications.

Originally Posted by nachtritter

My biggest issue on the LSL Kickstarter thing is that Replay Games were ALREADY working on the LSL remakes.

Yeah, that's something else that put me off about the project.

[BagginsKQ]

I pretty much concur with you, not to 'fund' LSL games... I won't be 'funding' it in this manner.

If remakes were to be made, this is not the way I would support them...

Although personally, no need for remakes, better to make new games.

...and personally, if there is a game to come out, I'll fund it when it is out, if I want it... I won't fund something that potentialy might not see the light of day, with possible risk.

BTW, what I meant by potentialy 'dubious' is that claiming one is a 'pyramid scheme' when pyramid schemes are actually illegal in many countries, at least on paper... One only has to look at the legal definition of 'pyramid scheme' as a scheme designed to fail, with people at the top collecting funds at the expensive of others. Doesn't stop companies like Cutco Knives from existing though... It's not generally something one would be willing to admit to being, LOL.

[blueskirt]

Their FAQs answer your "Why now?", "Why remake?" and "Why mobiles?" questions.

[FrankT]

Kickstarter? What exactly does that mean?

[thom-22]

Originally Posted by BagginsKQ

...and personally, if there is a game to come out, I'll fund it when it is out, if I want it... I won't fund something that potentialy might not see the light of day, with possible risk.

That's definitely a wise policy. I had no trouble making an exception for the DFA project because the developers have something at risk themselves. I mean, Double Fine is already a going concern, with a current, recent track record for releasing high-quality games with Metacritic scores in the 80s known for their distinctive style and humor; plus the studio has a largely favorable reputation among gamers, for being responsive and playing fair with them -- there's a lot of good will there they put effort into acquiring. I don't think they would risk any of that lightly. So... I was willing to take the chance.

[MusicallyInspired]

Originally Posted by jonathanfrisby

Bit off topic, but someone from Replay Games mentioned trying to get the rights to King's Quest in their Leisure Suit Larry Kickstarter comments. Also SPACE QUEST!

THAT I would totally back. I have no interest in Leisure Suit Larry, however.

Doesn't mean much.. Unless Telltale is passing on the franchise? They ought to jump on that before Replay gets the muppets back together!

Telltale doesn't have the rights to King's Quest. They don't need to give them up. They only have a license to use it. ActiVision can give the licenses to whoever they want. At once.

Originally Posted by nachtritter

My biggest issue on the LSL Kickstarter thing is that Replay Games were ALREADY working on the LSL remakes. They had even announced, last Fall, that they were remaking the whole series in HD.

And now that they see the Double Fine Adventure, Wasteland 2, and Takedown project succeed, they decide to launch a Kickstarter for LSL???

Yeah, right.

Asking people to fund a project you were developing anyway, really, Al?

That's a really narrow-minded point of view. They mentioned that nobody wanted to back their LSL project so they couldn't continue. Kickstarter was the only viable alternative to get it done.

[thom-22]

Originally Posted by MusicallyInspired

Telltale doesn't have the rights to King's Quest. They don't need to give them up. They only have a license to use it. ActiVision can give the licenses to whoever they want. At once.

That depends on how TTG's licensing contract was written. Licensing very often involves some kind of exclusivity. Game developers generally wouldn't want to pay to license a property if the rightsholder could grant licenses to others who would put out competing products. Unless you have some cold, hard facts about the contract provisions, I have to suspect that Telltale does indeed have exclusive rights to make KQ games, at least new ones; remakes might be excepted.

Originally Posted by MusicallyInspired

That's a really narrow-minded point of view. They mentioned that nobody wanted to back their LSL project so they couldn't continue. Kickstarter was the only viable alternative to get it done.

I think it begs the question, though, why did they announce a game before they had concrete plans and funding to make it? And now they're talking, speculatively, about other projects for which they don't even have rights! That borders on slimy AFAIC. I'm sorry, but this Replay company has utterly failed to gain my respect or confidence.

[MusicallyInspired]

n/m

[jonathanfrisby]

Originally Posted by thom-22

I think it begs the question, though, why did they announce a game before they had concrete plans and funding to make it? And now they're talking, speculatively, about other projects for which they don't even have rights! That borders on slimy AFAIC. I'm sorry, but this Replay company has utterly failed to gain my respect or confidence.

From the looks of the situation, I think they got stuck and didn't have many options.. There's no question that the scenario for a Kickstarter campaign could have been better than it is, but running with it this way seems to have been their only choice.

I think it's pretty admirable that this is basically former Sierra employees trying to make it happen... Ideally, they'd have a company with a better logo/name/website (all of which seem to provoke unfortunate skepticism) --but it hardly seems worth sitting back and hoping that they try this again.

Schafer talked about his success in terms of "having a good story to tell" and they're struggling to pull together that narrative.. As unfortunate as all that is, this may be the only chance Sierra gets -- and I'll put my faith in Al Lowe / Josh Mandel / Paul Trowe / Scott Murphy to eventually become the best possible custodians of these games... even if it looks thrown together right now.

-- And here's an amazing Scott Murphy interview.

[Powerlord]

I would have thought that the rights for Sierra's games would be with Activision Blizzard given the acquisition history of the company.

[MusicallyInspired]

They are...what's your point?

[BagginsKQ]

Actually depend on the series, Activision sold some of them off. But they weren't clear on which ones.

LSL apparently changed hands, possibly before Activision.

Gold Rush changed hands. Probably before Activision.

The Realm changed hands before Activision.

No one knows the situation for Quest for Glory...

[FrankT]

Quest for Glory? Is that still going?