Star Control-konflikten er endelig over

Og et nytt Star Control-spill lanseres neste år. Oppdatering: Artikkelen har nå fått mer informasjon om avtalen.

Konflikten om rettighetene til Star Control-spillene har vært mildt sagt deprimerende, men nå er den historie. Jeg har brukt mer enn nok tid allerede på å prøve å beskrive kranglingen, men den startet i 2017, og resulterte blant annet i at det nye Star Control-spillet ble fjernet fra markedet i en periode (mens de gamle fortsatt er borte).

Det som har skjedd nå er altså at partene – nemlig hovedutviklerne av seriens to første spill og selskapet bak det nyeste – har kommet til en enighet utenfor rettssalen. Hva denne innebærer vet vi ikke, men i en ekstraordinært kortfattet melding på nettstedet sitt skriver originalskaperne Fred Ford og Paul Reiche III følgende:

Stardock® and Frungy Games™ (Fred and Paul) are happy and relieved to announce that all parties have settled their disputes amicably and in a way where the fans of Star Control® and The Ur-Quan Masters™ are the biggest winners. Stay tuned to Channel 44 for more details next week from the E3 floor!

Stardock-sjefen Brad Wardell peker på sin side til samme melding, og gjentar oppfordringen om å følge med neste uke (som altså er denne uka). Men siden han ikke er typen som klarer å holde kjeft (muligens litt av grunnen til at konflikten ble så alvorlig som den gjorde), røper han deretter at et nytt Star Control-spill er på vei, og vil slippes i 2020. Så følger han opp med dette:

There’s so much good stuff happening in the world of Star Control. We can’t wait to talk about it next week. People are going to be shocked (in a good way) we think.

Kan det tenkes at partene ikke bare har begravd stridsøksen, men også kjørt på med spillindustriens svar på ubeskyttet makeup sex, og det nå er en liten en på vei? Vi får se, men dette var kanskje det dummeste jeg har noensinne skrevet – jommen godt vi har så få lesere!

Til sist nevner Wardell at de klassiske Star Control-spillene snart kommer tilbake i salg. Det er bra, for Star Control II er et av historiens beste spill.

Oppdatering: Dumt eller ikke, jeg hadde faktisk litt rett. I en ny post på nettstedet sitt har Paul Reiche III og Fred Ford listet opp hovedpunktene i avtalen mellom de to selskapene. Jeg har klistret alt inn her, og uthevet det jeg føler er mest interessant:

The terms are not confidential. We won’t be publishing the text of the agreement, but we are free to describe all of its contents.
This is honestly and truly an amicable settlement. Not only are we settling the lawsuit, but we’ve decided to support each other’s development so that the fan community gets two great games.
There is no ‘loser’. All sides win, because we are no longer burning money, creative energy and the goodwill of our fans.
No money changed hands. We’re not only halting the lawsuit, but we’re committed to supporting each other’s projects and working together to rebuild the cracks in the fan community.
There is a weird paragraph in the agreement that involves bees. Seriously — no kidding. Brad Wardell is giving Fred and Paul honey from his hives and Paul is giving Brad some bottles of his homemade mead. Brad will also be giving Paul advice in how not to be stung. The lawyers thought this was pretty dang crazy. This goes to show you can find common ground in the strangest (and most delicious) of places.
Stardock will create new games in the Star Control franchise. Paul & Fred will create new games in the Ur-Quan Masters franchise.
To help differentiate the two franchises Paul volunteered to create a few new alien races for Origins.
Brad offered to help Fred and Paul with technology.
Stardock dropped all its alien name and character trademarks and all parties have dropped their oppositions to each other’s trademarks.
Both sides recognize each other’s copyrights and will not challenge them in the future.
We were able to come to a very specific understanding on the alien characters and races — how they look and act. Stardock is dropping all trademark registration of the alien names and won’t use the described aliens without permission from Paul & Fred.
Star Control, Star Control II, and Star Control III will be coming back for sale by Stardock so that fans of all ages can enjoy the classic games in their original form. Paul and Fred will split royalties equally with Stardock.
Stardock, and Brad in particular, is supportive of Paul and Fred owning the Ur-Quan Masters trademark. All of us are committed to support the current UQM team and project, including their having a free, perpetual right to use the Ur-Quan Masters trademark for their amazing fan-powered recreation of the original game.
Stardock accepts that Paul & Fred are the creators of Star Control and Star Control II. Both parties agree that many other skilled people also contributed their talent and creativity to help make the games so great.
Paul and Fred will be changing the name «Ghosts of the Precursors» to something a little less generic — (come on, you know we can do better!). The precise ‘when’ is unclear, but it is still several years off.
The settlement resolved all issues with all the parties, including Valve and GOG.
Paul enjoyed Origins enough to spend over 50 intense hours playing the game. He thought the jokes in the alien dialog were genuinely very funny and he was blown away by how beautifully interplanetary travel was rendered. Paul was especially delighted that he could remap the control keys to his beloved SpaceWar! configuration.
We are honestly very, very happy with the way everything has settled. No Dnyarri mental compulsion was needed.