Author Topic: game remakes  (Read 4121 times)

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Alaskaban

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game remakes
« on: September 13, 2012, 07:04:43 PM »
do you need permission to remake a game

Intendant S

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Re: game remakes
« Reply #1 on: September 13, 2012, 07:36:31 PM »
I'm no expert on the industry, but based on what I've seen over the past five months or so on Kickstarter that you would either need to own the rights for an IP already or would have to license it from the rights-holders.
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Lambonius

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Re: game remakes
« Reply #2 on: September 13, 2012, 07:46:10 PM »
You can do whatever you want in the privacy of your own home.  It's when you decide to start distributing that remake that issues arise.  And yes, you would certainly need permission to sell a remake.  When the remake craze started years ago, nobody had permission--everyone basically flew under the radar and hoped for the best.  AGDI got approached by Vivendi, but it was after they already had released their first remake, so a "fan license" deal was reached to allow them to continue working on the various projects they had already started.  TSL was shut down twice, and managed, through a lot of fan petitioning, to get Activision to work with them to grant them a fan license, too. 
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Re: game remakes
« Reply #3 on: September 15, 2012, 03:47:38 AM »
do you need permission to remake a game


Yes. That's the short version.


The long version is this.


Old games are still covered by copyright and those copyrights are held by various people or companies. It's the same as copying a movie or photocopying a book. Or pirating a computer game. The majority of the Sierra catalogue is held by Blizzard-Activision, with the exception of the Leisure Suit Larry series which is owned by Codemasters. Replay games have a licence from Codemasters to do their remake of Leisure Suit Larry 1 (and the rest of the series I believe.) As Lamb said, AGDI have a fan licence for their remakes which allows them to distribute the remakes without monetary compensation but the rights of all their hard work now belongs to Blizzard-Activision. At least that's my understanding of it.


I think the days of fan games flying under the radar have gone by, mostly as all these games are once again available for sale and are making their owners money (whether it be a lot or not.)
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Re: game remakes
« Reply #4 on: September 15, 2012, 04:30:05 PM »
That would be fine if there are new official games or remakes, nut I am afraid that the art and style will not be fitting. The LSL remake looks too cartoony for my taste. The main thing that I regret that did not get made by a fan group is a good VGA KQ4 to finish the series in VGA.