Kings Quest IX Needs Help

#21 Actually, taking a title and transferring it to another team is common industry practice. so is taking a project, evaluating it, and canning it. Most often it never gets revived unless another, similar, title is released and there is money to be made. I hate to be pessimistic because I had been watching this for a long time (did not think it was in TGE, though)...but industry practice is often quite different than doe-eyed fans would like it to be. It is brutal, especially where IP and marketing gurus are concerned. A much more likely scenario is that VU would purchase the assets and then decide what to do with it. They may take on some of the developers (most likely artists) as contract employees or residual staff to maintain name and fan consistency, but their roles would be significantly diminished. They may stay on contract long enough to train others in the game's innards. They may stay on long enough to see massive pipeline and plotline changes. They may be there long enough for VU to decide that there is no money to be made in adventure games and can the project. If they have been there that long, they may get absorbed into the staff and moved on to other, more promising projects. They may leave, fed up with the corporate gaming industry.

I have no idea what is happening behind the scenes, but right now VU has them in an uncomfortable position either way. They cannot release it for free unless it is stripped of anything KQ, and if they wish to release it, VU will gain complete IP access--which they legally have...just not asset and codebase access). Then they can decide for themselves what to do with it regardless. It's the difference between not ever being able to release it or the slim possibility of it resembling the intended game if ever released--but at least it might have a chance of release.

#22 You guys are depressing today =P

#23 Hehe. I read "dishmal" as"dismal" when I read your comment. It had an added touch. Then I realized I was an illiterate idiot!

#24 It's funny how many people when they see me on online games and i hear them call my name through voice chat who say 'dismal' instead of 'diSHmal'. =P you're not the first, nor will you be the last.

"Damnit Jim, I'm a diSHmal not an elevator!"

(if you don't realize where that semi-quote is from, then you're not a big enough nerd to be reading this forumn =P)

#25 >Actually, taking a title and transferring it to another team is common industry practice. so is taking a project, >evaluating it, and canning it.

This is true. Starcraft Ghost comes to mind although I guess they're pushing it through to the end with the new team which btw Blizzard has since purchased and brought in-house so I guess it's a "happy ending" of sorts. :p

The interesting thing about this particular situation though is the fact that it is completely unsolicited. And as situations go for unsolicited material I don't think it's as dooms day as some fear. In a way VU Games has simply done what it needs to do to place itself in the best possible situation without compromising their IP. There is nothing inherently "evil" or underhanded about this. Any one of us would do the same if we were in the same shoes.

Looking at the example of how LucasFilm deals with fan created Star Wars material, I think VU Games made the right choice by letting the fan team do what they so obviously wish to do. As long as the fan team don't make "free money" off VU Games' IP, why should they interfere with freebee activities which will only add to the value of their IP. This is a fact that peole at LucasFilm I'm sure are quite aware of and make it a point to be interested instead of putting up a wall of legal papers with no disregard.

CounterStrike, the one true break out hit to come from the mod community, sustained Valve for a very long time basically for free. In this case Valve was smart enough to roll with an opportunity when it came along and set a great precedence along the way. Although VU Games I'm sure has no need for a King's Quest sequel to sustain themselves, why turn away free money? One can only hope VU Games is thinking along similar lines as LucasFilm. It would be a shame if they are only doing this just as a knee jerk reaction to the fan movement. (Of course this is most likely the case but I'll leave that up to the less then uplifting among us to point out. :p)