info
Google Groups no longer supports new Usenet posts or subscriptions. Historical content remains viewable.
Dismiss
[Metro] King Charles owns half the Discworld video game rights so a remaster is up to him
20 views
Skip to first unread message
kyonshi
Feb 11, 2024, 9:19:54 AMFeb 11
to
https://metro.co.uk/2024/02/08/king-charles-owns-half-discworld-video-game-rights-20248365/
King Charles owns half the Discworld video game rights so a remaster is
up to him
GameCentralPublished Feb 8, 2024, 4:28pm|Updated Feb 9, 2024, 9:14am
A peculiarity of UK law means If there’s ever going to be a remaster of
the Discworld video games it needs the agreement of the Crown.
Many may not remember, but there were three different Discworld video
games released in the 90s, with Eric Idle voicing Rincewind the wizard
in the first two and other famous voice actors such as Rob Brydon, Jon
Pertwee, and Tony Robinson also involved.
Terry Pratchett was a fan of games and while he only had a limited input
on the trilogy, he did seem to approve of them. But after his death, and
the collapse of British developer Perfect Entertainment, the games were
largely forgotten and have never been re-released or remastered since.
It seems there are very specific reasons for that though: according to
British law, if the original rights holder has been defunct for more
than 10 years then 50% of the rights revert to the original creator and
50% to the Crown.
The writer and director for the first two games was Gregg Barnett, who
is now in possession of the half of the rights that don’t belong to King
Charles.
This has led to talks with, unnamed, publishers about re-releasing the
games (the original publisher was Psygnosis, which was bought by Sony
before any of the games were released, but that doesn’t seem to be an
issue when it comes to the rights).
‘There have been discussions and something may be happening down the
track – a re-release or a remaster. But it’s obviously a complicated
process when you’re dealing with the Crown,’ Barnett told website Time
Extension.
‘It may happen. And then it could advance to new versions of them. And
again, I said, I would like to do a new Discworld game,’ adds Barnett.
‘But beyond all of the stuff that may or may not happen [like] the old
versions, it’s just going to be hard to get the rights to do anything
new in the Discworld universe at the moment.’
He doesn’t go into detail of why that is, but if nothing else Eric Idle
is still working – he was on The Masked Singer in 2022 – so maybe the
band can get back together.
King Charles owns half the Discworld video game rights so a remaster is
up to him
GameCentralPublished Feb 8, 2024, 4:28pm|Updated Feb 9, 2024, 9:14am
A peculiarity of UK law means If there’s ever going to be a remaster of
the Discworld video games it needs the agreement of the Crown.
Many may not remember, but there were three different Discworld video
games released in the 90s, with Eric Idle voicing Rincewind the wizard
in the first two and other famous voice actors such as Rob Brydon, Jon
Pertwee, and Tony Robinson also involved.
Terry Pratchett was a fan of games and while he only had a limited input
on the trilogy, he did seem to approve of them. But after his death, and
the collapse of British developer Perfect Entertainment, the games were
largely forgotten and have never been re-released or remastered since.
It seems there are very specific reasons for that though: according to
British law, if the original rights holder has been defunct for more
than 10 years then 50% of the rights revert to the original creator and
50% to the Crown.
The writer and director for the first two games was Gregg Barnett, who
is now in possession of the half of the rights that don’t belong to King
Charles.
This has led to talks with, unnamed, publishers about re-releasing the
games (the original publisher was Psygnosis, which was bought by Sony
before any of the games were released, but that doesn’t seem to be an
issue when it comes to the rights).
‘There have been discussions and something may be happening down the
track – a re-release or a remaster. But it’s obviously a complicated
process when you’re dealing with the Crown,’ Barnett told website Time
Extension.
‘It may happen. And then it could advance to new versions of them. And
again, I said, I would like to do a new Discworld game,’ adds Barnett.
‘But beyond all of the stuff that may or may not happen [like] the old
versions, it’s just going to be hard to get the rights to do anything
new in the Discworld universe at the moment.’
He doesn’t go into detail of why that is, but if nothing else Eric Idle
is still working – he was on The Masked Singer in 2022 – so maybe the
band can get back together.
0 new messages