I've been thinking a lot about the issues a game company faces using someone elses licensed IP since seeing the new Star Trek.
I really feel for the guys at Cryptic as I think they've gotten nothing but screwed by licenseors. First Marvel pulled the Marvel Heroes license out from under them half-way through the development of that game. Now JJ Abrahms and Paramount have labeled everything that came before the new Star Trek movie as "Your father's Star Trek."
IMO the new Star Trek is very successful in rebooting the franchise. This bodes very well for the future of the franchise from Paramount's point of view. On the other hand it pretty much invalidates the entire history of the series to date... including all of Next Generation, which is the license Cryptic holds.
Given how much time it takes to develop a major game, I think we need to start writing tougher licensee protections into IP license contracts in this industry. I think there should be serious and significant penalties for canceling a contract for anything but the very best of reasons. I also think the licensor should be liable for actions they take that damage the valuse of the license between the time of contract signing and the first few years after release of the game.
Baring that, I think we need to think long and hard whether it really makes sense to license any IP at all in our business. As is its a major source of uncontrolled risk in the development process-- a process that is mostly about risk management.
I really feel for the guys at Cryptic as I think they've gotten nothing but screwed by licenseors. First Marvel pulled the Marvel Heroes license out from under them half-way through the development of that game. Now JJ Abrahms and Paramount have labeled everything that came before the new Star Trek movie as "Your father's Star Trek."
IMO the new Star Trek is very successful in rebooting the franchise. This bodes very well for the future of the franchise from Paramount's point of view. On the other hand it pretty much invalidates the entire history of the series to date... including all of Next Generation, which is the license Cryptic holds.
Given how much time it takes to develop a major game, I think we need to start writing tougher licensee protections into IP license contracts in this industry. I think there should be serious and significant penalties for canceling a contract for anything but the very best of reasons. I also think the licensor should be liable for actions they take that damage the valuse of the license between the time of contract signing and the first few years after release of the game.
Baring that, I think we need to think long and hard whether it really makes sense to license any IP at all in our business. As is its a major source of uncontrolled risk in the development process-- a process that is mostly about risk management.
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