Colossal Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 On doublefine.com in the FAQ section there is this: "How about a sequel to Grim Fandango, or Full Throttle, or Day of the Tentacle? That would be fun, but we don’t own the rights to any of those games, so we can’t. Instead, we have to make up our own new stuff. Which is awesome." My question is what kind of rights are they talking about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SalvadorsSkull Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 What they mean is Grim Fandango was created by Tim Schaefer when he was working with Lucas Arts. Now that Schaefer has left to run Double Fine LucasArts still owns all intellectual and property rights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Isaac Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 Yep, LucasArts own the rights to all those games, and it doesn't look like they're planning on releasing a sequel themselves any time soon. Could someone remind me how Telltale got the rights to produce their Sam & Max episodes? Did LucasArts' copyright expire? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urluckyday Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 ^Yeah, the copyright expired, so Telltale saw the opportunity, and it's paid off so far. Yeah, eventually I think you can expect to see at least one of those to leave Lucasart's iron fist (as did Sam and Max), but by then, I don't know if anyone will want to produce a new game (even with this much fan support). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Isaac Posted March 3, 2008 Share Posted March 3, 2008 Sam & Max is the only one which they no longer have the rights too though, right? Why haven't copyrights for their others expired? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colossal Posted March 3, 2008 Author Share Posted March 3, 2008 What they mean is Grim Fandango was created by Tim Schaefer when he was working with Lucas Arts. Now that Schaefer has left to run Double Fine LucasArts still owns all intellectual and property rights. Thank you for the info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urluckyday Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 @James: I'm not sure why they take longer, but keep in mind that there were several slated for newer games...I don't know for sure, and they like to keep quiet about it, so they don't get "bothered" by people like us...oh well though, I can only hope they drop the licenses soon, so they can go to new developers...I mean, I love LA, but I don't like how they've handled those licenses, so I think they'd do best by giving them up... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colossal Posted March 4, 2008 Author Share Posted March 4, 2008 ok so if Tim Schaefer really wants to make a sequel but the copyright is not expired yet, seems like Lucas keeps it a secret about the expiration date (its been 10 years). It looks like Lucas whats Grim Fandango to be an epic game (no sequels) or something of the sort, then why they have only mentioned the game in their oficial site, no info on the game etc. And it looks that they are not interested in making adventure games so why are they keeping the rights? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
urluckyday Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 I'm not exactly sure, but these things are extremely complicated...I doubt we'll ever know the real reason why, but oh well... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SalvadorsSkull Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 ok so if Tim Schaefer really wants to make a sequel but the copyright is not expired yet, seems like Lucas keeps it a secret about the expiration date (its been 10 years). It looks like Lucas whats Grim Fandango to be an epic game (no sequels) or something of the sort, then why they have only mentioned the game in their oficial site, no info on the game etc. And it looks that they are not interested in making adventure games so why are they keeping the rights? Because they are a business and it makes no sense promoting a game made 10 years ago that was not even popular then! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colossal Posted March 4, 2008 Author Share Posted March 4, 2008 ^not popular come on it wasnt that unpopular - 10 years passed and we still talk about this game... wow... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tooplex Posted March 4, 2008 Share Posted March 4, 2008 ^not popular come on it wasnt that unpopular - 10 years passed and we still talk about this game... wow... Its because people who actually play the game know its a bloody awesome game! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colossal Posted March 4, 2008 Author Share Posted March 4, 2008 you can say that again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrik Posted March 5, 2008 Share Posted March 5, 2008 Sam & Max is somewhat a special case because it was actually invented in the 80s by Steve Purcell independently of LucasArts. LucasArts then licensed the franchise a number of years later, much like games based on movies do so today. As with all franchise licenses, they expire. Unfortunately Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, and essentially all other LucasArts classics were not licensed by LucasArts and instead developed as intellectual property internally. In other words, LucasArts as a company will always own the rights to those games. They aren't going to expire in a few years and be open for Double Fine or whoever grabs them first to work on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewlil Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 But they can still sell the rights, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrik Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 They could, but it's very unlikely they would. I'd imagine if they wanted get some money out an old license, they'd try to do it themselves. Lots of game publishers/developers just sit on rights for decades, quite happy to keep them locked away -- LucasArts has shown no signs of being any different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iannu Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 They could, but it's very unlikely they would. I'd imagine if they wanted get some money out an old license, they'd try to do it themselves. Lots of game publishers/developers just sit on rights for decades, quite happy to keep them locked away -- LucasArts has shown no signs of being any different. well that's unless they receive an offer they cannot refuse, right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thrik Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 There's not much money in adventure games these days though, so I can't see a publisher being willing to sink the huge amount of money LucasArts would demand to be swayed. Even though the LucasArts games were superb, these days their licenses don't really hold the value they did. They've gone the same way as many classic Spectrum/Atari/Amiga games, which were once household names but now most people below 20 haven't even heard of, say, Dizzy. A publisher will look at this and just decide it isn't worth the risk or money. It's particularly bad in Grim Fandango's case because as we all know, it wasn't really considered a runaway success like Monkey Island was. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see some old LucasArts licenses resurrected. For example, Vivendi is now Double Fine's publisher, and it's not beyond the realms of possibility for them to buy the Full Throttle rights off LucasArts and then assign Double Fine to do a sequel. It's just insanely unlikely to actually happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stewlil Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 A remake of the game would be interesting though, i mean you use all the old voice clips and story line, but re-create all of the environments and characters, put some better graphics in etc.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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