by Spaceport » Mon Oct 29, 2018 8:33 pm
sakalava47 wrote: ↑Thu Oct 25, 2018 8:31 pm
I, for one, thought it was kind of weaselly how Fred and Paul waited until someone else was investing tons of money into a new Star Control game and then they FINALLY came out and said they're making a "real" sequel. Imagine you were in Brad's or Stardock's position. It would feel like a kick in the nuts. It would do serious damage to your credibility and divide the fan base. Which is what it did. My respect for Fred and Paul isn't that high right now.
Imagine you're Fred and Paul. You've always wanted to create a sequel to Star Control II, but due to poor working conditions with Accolade you had to step away and, after putting your efforts elsewhere, you were unable to convince Activision to let you return to Star Control. All the while you were always very open with fans. You open sourced SCII to keep awareness of the property high and grow the fanbase, you asked the fans to petition Activision to try to let them know that interest in such an old property was high enough to make returning to it worthwhile, and when an interloper came along and bought the "Star Control" trademark, you explained to him that you had your own plans for continuing the story and that you had your own 25th anniversary announcement plans.
Here is Brad asking to coordinate something with F&P for the anniversary:
8. We are still hoping to release Star Control: Origins in 2018 in time for the 25th anniversary of Star Control 2.
9. We would also like to release an update to Star Control 1/2 under the existing agreement (50/50) split if we can get your permission for the 25th anniversary.
10. Would you be able to participate in any Star Control: 25th anniversary events next year? There are many people, such as myself, who would not have become game developers if it weren't for you two.
Brad additionally asked them to do an interview. To this Paul responded by politely declining and informing him that he had his own plans:
Hi Brad,
Fred and I appreciate the update! In regards to the interview, I think we are going to save our powder (and really limited time) for our own anniversary plans ‐‐ which we are not quite ready to talk about ‐‐ closer to November.
Thanks,
‐ Paul
You asked us to imagine what Brad would think, well, we may not have access to the inner workings of his mind, but he do have him expressing his support for P&F doing their own thing:
Hi Paul,
Sounds good. Please let me know how we might assist. We would love to help with any promotion or support we can give!
Cheers,
Brad
Despite Paul explicitly saying no to an interview, Brad followed that up by asking again and sending along a list of questions. He ended that email with this:
You mentioned you have some announcements of your own coming up. Please feel free to send anything you want me to promote through our channels. Heck, even if you were leaving Activision and making Ur‐Quan: The Revenge or something we'd be delighted to help spread the word.
Full emails and email exchange located here:
https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov ... 64.10.pdf
So Brad figured out, on his own, that F&P might be planning their own sequel, which he expressed support for before the public announcement and without any direct confirmation from F&P. Even if he was secretly dreading such an action, he signaled his approval for them to go ahead with that. I do not see how F&P should have any obligation to delay their plans or run them through a company who, in an effort to capitalize on their work and "goodwill," bought the trademark (Stardock had no deal with P&F and had to reasonably expect that their purchase came with risks like this), but even if you think that they do, they had Brad's explicit backing for both putting out their own announcement and for it being about a sequel while Stardock was ramping up its own promotion. Brad later attempted to spin this situation to make himself look like an aggrieved party to people who were not privy to these emails.
[quote=sakalava47 post_id=27469 time=1540499498 user_id=203]I, for one, thought it was kind of weaselly how Fred and Paul waited until someone else was investing tons of money into a new Star Control game and then they FINALLY came out and said they're making a "real" sequel. Imagine you were in Brad's or Stardock's position. It would feel like a kick in the nuts. It would do serious damage to your credibility and divide the fan base. Which is what it did. My respect for Fred and Paul isn't that high right now.
[/quote]
Imagine you're Fred and Paul. You've always wanted to create a sequel to Star Control II, but due to poor working conditions with Accolade you had to step away and, after putting your efforts elsewhere, you were unable to convince Activision to let you return to Star Control. All the while you were always very open with fans. You open sourced SCII to keep awareness of the property high and grow the fanbase, you asked the fans to petition Activision to try to let them know that interest in such an old property was high enough to make returning to it worthwhile, and when an interloper came along and bought the "Star Control" trademark, you explained to him that you had your own plans for continuing the story and that you had your own 25th anniversary announcement plans.
Here is Brad asking to coordinate something with F&P for the anniversary:
[i]8. We are still hoping to release Star Control: Origins in 2018 in time for the 25th anniversary of Star Control 2.
9. We would also like to release an update to Star Control 1/2 under the existing agreement (50/50) split if we can get your permission for the 25th anniversary.
10. Would you be able to participate in any Star Control: 25th anniversary events next year? There are many people, such as myself, who would not have become game developers if it weren't for you two. [/i]
Brad additionally asked them to do an interview. To this Paul responded by politely declining and informing him that he had his own plans:
[i]Hi Brad,
Fred and I appreciate the update! In regards to the interview, I think we are going to save our powder (and really limited time) for our own anniversary plans ‐‐ which we are not quite ready to talk about ‐‐ closer to November.
Thanks,
‐ Paul[/i]
You asked us to imagine what Brad would think, well, we may not have access to the inner workings of his mind, but he do have him expressing his support for P&F doing their own thing:
[i]Hi Paul,
Sounds good. Please let me know how we might assist. We would love to help with any promotion or support we can give!
Cheers,
Brad[/i]
Despite Paul explicitly saying no to an interview, Brad followed that up by asking again and sending along a list of questions. He ended that email with this:
[i]You mentioned you have some announcements of your own coming up. Please feel free to send anything you want me to promote through our channels. Heck, even if you were leaving Activision and making Ur‐Quan: The Revenge or something we'd be delighted to help spread the word. [/i]
Full emails and email exchange located here: [url]https://www.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.320268/gov.uscourts.cand.320268.64.10.pdf
[/url]
So Brad figured out, on his own, that F&P might be planning their own sequel, which he expressed support for before the public announcement and without any direct confirmation from F&P. Even if he was secretly dreading such an action, he signaled his approval for them to go ahead with that. I do not see how F&P should have any obligation to delay their plans or run them through a company who, in an effort to capitalize on their work and "goodwill," bought the trademark (Stardock had no deal with P&F and had to reasonably expect that their purchase came with risks like this), but even if you think that they do, they had Brad's explicit backing for both putting out their own announcement and for it being about a sequel while Stardock was ramping up its own promotion. Brad later attempted to spin this situation to make himself look like an aggrieved party to people who were not privy to these emails.