Stardock Plans Reboot of Star Control

[Frumple]

This news has been developing over the past few days however, I want to say thanks to troubleman for e-mailing me with a tip about the first public statements and quotes I've seen from Stardock...

From Joystiq.com - More Atari IP auction winners announced, Stardock plans Star Control reboot

"We're very excited to publish a new Star Control game. We are inclined to go with an XCOM-like reboot using Star Control 2 as a major source of inspiration," said Brad Wardell, president and CEO of Stardock to Joystiq. "By rebooting the series á la XCOM, we can bring a new generation of gamers into a fun, silly space adventure. We hope to involve as many of the original designers and developers of the series, along with the fan base. It's important to us that Star Control remain true to its origins as much as is possible."

Anthony at StarController.com has a fantastic summary of the events and their outcomes that led to this...

Stardock Owns Star Control Trademark (Pending)


All of this started recently when Atari couldn't find a buyer and entered bankruptcy. As part of the process, it's properties, including Star Control were put up for auction...

Bankrupt publisher hoping to bring in at least $22 million from upcoming asset auctions.

Atari Inc. filed for bankruptcy protection in January. According to the Wall Street Journal, its investment banker reached out to 180 would-be buyers, with about half agreeing to pursue purchases. However, only 15 actually submitted bids, none of which were approved by Atari. Thus, Atari Inc. now plans to sell its brands on a franchise-by-franchise basis during auctions beginning next month.

Atari SA: final phase of the Chapter 11 procedures


Brad Wardell (Stardock CEO and President) has some commentary about the Atari assets auction on his personal blog...

Back from the Atari auction

We went there to get two items in particular. One in particular we really really wanted because we are insane fans of the series. That one we got. The other we wanted we didn’t get, we were the second highest bidder.

I'm still taking this all in but, I think it will be terribly interesting!

[Niffiwan]

I like that the rights were bought by people who really liked the original.

At the same time, I'm worried that their plan for it seems to be a Hollywood-like "re-imagining". Ur-Quan Masters HD has already updated the graphics (and some other stuff) for contemporary hardware. The gameplay itself needs no updating.

Telltale Games didn't completely remake Monkey Island, right? Because it was already understood that it was a classic, so they just updated the graphics and music for the first two games. What they did do was make an awesome new sequel.

Why not instead make a true sequel with the involvement of Toys for Bob and reach a deal with the creators of UQM HD to release it together with the new game (so people who buy the new game can also play the preceding game if they want to).

[Angelfish]

What I really like about Stardock is that they said they wanted to reboot it a la X-COM.
Last month I played the X-COM remake and I immediately thought: "This proves that a 1on1 remake of an old game can still be extremely fun to play".

[Saria]

IT'S HAPPENING

[vok3]

IT'S HAPPENING

No. It is not.

1) The only thing Stardock could have bought here is the rights to the "Star Control" name itself. The rights to EVERYTHING ELSE - Ur-Quan, Precursors, Spathi, Chenjesu, all of it - reside with Toys For Bob. That is why and how the sourceforge UQM release was possible, and why the title had to be changed. If Stardock tries to make a Star Control game without involving TFB, there will be no Ur-Quan, no Syreen, no Shofixti, no Yehat, no nothing. In short, it will not be Star Control.

2) Toys For Bob is wholly owned by Activision. Activision has no reason to cooperate with a rival publisher. At the very least, Stardock would have to pay Activision exorbitant amounts to be able to use Activision employees for a project intended to compete with Activision's core business - electronic entertainment. It is extremely unlikely that Toys For Bob has avoided signing non-compete agreements. Therefore it is highly unlikely that Toys For Bob - meaning Paul Reiche and Fred Ford, the people who count - will be involved in any Stardock Starcon project.

3) If Paul Reiche and Fred Ford are not involved, I don't care what name is slapped on it, it's not Star Control.

4) Stardock is the company that announced they were doing a Master of Magic remake and then came out with one of the worst releases in gaming history, Elemental: War of Magic. They then put a huge amount of effort into undoing the PR damage they took from that, resulting in Fallen Enchantress, which is a passable fantasy strategy game, but nothing legendary.

5) Stardock's track record even with its successful games is that they make dry, workmanlike games. There is not that much personality or quirkiness in them. The whole point of Star Control is the quirkiness and the personality infused in every detail. This is purely a matter of who actually works on the game, and their creativity and what sort of ideas they have. Ford and Reiche have it. Stardock has not yet demonstrated that they do, and based on the Elemental / Fallen Enchantress history, there's better than even odds that it'll turn out they just can't.

6) Star Control is about spaceships, dammit. Not X-com like tactics. I love X-com, but if I want to play X-com, I'll play X-com, not X-com-renamed-as-Star-Control.

e: for whatever it's worth, Wardell responded to my posting these same points at the UQM forum by saying that they ARE in touch with Reiche and Ford and that things look "hopeful". Which would remove some of my objections.

e2: According to this
http://forum.uqm.stack.nl/index.php?top ... 5#msg71115
Paul Reiche says Stardock has not contacted them at all. Wardell's post in that thread came not so long after so there can't have been that much in the way of specific discussions between the two. Well, we'll see.

[Tiberian]

6) Star Control is about spaceships, dammit. Not X-com like tactics. I love X-com, but if I want to play X-com, I'll play X-com, not X-com-renamed-as-Star-Control.

I don't think they meant that they would make an X-Com-like game. Rather, I think they meant that their Star Control game would resemble Star Control 2 as much as the new X-Com resembled the original.

[Guest]

IT'S HAPPENING

No. It is not.
[..]

Biggest buzzkill of the year man
Oh well

[Saria]

IT'S HAPPENING

No. It is not.
[..]

Biggest buzzkill of the year man
Oh well

Err, that was me. I guess I wasn't logged in. Sorry about that.

[vok3]

Biggest buzzkill of the year man
Oh well

Look at it this way: if I'm wrong, we all get a wonderful surprise. If I'm right, you don't suffer a huge disappointment.

[Nuclear]

I once heard a saying; Positive thinking breeds positive result.