[The E]

Interplay has, for the stunning price of 7500 USD, purchased the rights to the FS IP that were left at Volition and THQ.

So they basically own the source now, if I read the court documents right.

[Black Wolf]

Wow. I wonder what they actually got. Obviously, they had some rights prior to this, but the low price implies that [V] really had relatively little after all.

That said, at $7500, I don't think this means much to Interplay - certainly not in the short term. If [V] thought for a second that they were going to develop a new game, they'd've asked for more. They were probably just sick of splitting the GoG royalties. The most we're likely to see is an ad blitz or some kind of anniversary re-release again I reckon.

[FUBAR-BDHR]

More then likely what had wasn't worth that much without what Interplay has.  Probably went for such a low price becaue it was useless to most other companies and if they wanted to see how anything worked they could just grab a copy of the source and see how it was done anyway.

On a side note this means phase 1 of my get rich off of FS3 scheme is now complete.  Now all I need is for it to be made, released, and skyrocket my Interplay stock. <insert organ music and diabolical laughter>

[Fury]

Whoa, that was seriously low price. Considering Interplay's current state and that Volition & THQ let the IP sold for such ridiculously low price, I don't really see a bright future for the IP. I suppose that's just fine really. FS3 is not something I want to see anyway, although a spiritual successor would be nice. But I suppose there's always Star Citizen, of which I am still not entirely convinced is what the doctor ordered.

[deathfun]

Ha at one of the comments:

I’d pay for a HD releases of the first 2 games and of course buy Freespace 3 in a heartbeat.

What the devil have we been doing if not making it HD?

[The E]

It's not like volition had any say in this. This sale was part of the THQ liquidation proceedings, and given that the remaining rights V had were useless to anyone but Interplay, there really wasn't any other outcome that was feasible.

[MatthTheGeek]

They were up for auction right ? Couldn't :V: buy them themselves ?

[The E]

Probably, but it would have been hard to justify from a pure business POV. The price suggests that there was no active revenue associated with those rights.

In addition, remember that V is not actually able to make those decisions, it would have to go through Koch Media/Egosoft first.

[yuezhi]

Any chance interplay will reel in the source code project and declare it closed anytime soon?

[An4ximandros]

 Brace yourselves, a ****y FPS reboot that has nothing to do with the original games is coming.

ED: Forkin' Grammar.

[The E]

Chance, yes. Likelihood, no.

[yuezhi]

Brace yourselves, a ****y FPS reboot that has nothing to do with the original games is comming.

Well if it's about the marines which is only shown once in FS1 then i don't mind it being added in.

Who owns again?

[The E]

Koch Media (AKA Egosoft).

[Black Wolf]

Any chance interplay will reel in the source code project and declare it closed anytime soon?

I'm not sure that they have the legal right to do this, even if they wanted to. When [V] released it, the source code became a new "product" of sorts, existing under whatever license that they used (I don't remember off the top of my head). In doing so, they relinquished their rights beyond what they specified were limited in the original release (i.e. no commercial releases). Since they didn't have those rights any more, then they presumably couldn't have sold them to Interplay.

That said, IANAL, and I suppose there's nothing stopping them making a bad decision and trying to scare us into submission with (possibly unenforceable) C&D letters. But like E said, it's very, very unlikely. We're one of the major reasons they're still making a little revenue of FS through GoG - probably enough to justify the $7500 anyway - and we don't in any way compete with them - we unquestionably enhance their product. They'd be silly to shut us down.

[yuezhi]

I think i've been out of the loop for ages. How much did cost? and could Interplay have afforded that if they were the least bit interested?

[Mobius]

I don't know why, but I tend to share An4ximandros' thought... and I kind of expect a FPS.

[The E]

I think i've been out of the loop for ages. How much did cost? and could Interplay have afforded that?

Volition sold for 22.3 Million USD (Saint's Row IP rights included). I don't think Interplay has that kind of money.

[Mongoose]

Christ, WE could have bought them for that price.

[The E]

Yep, we sure could have (And given that we're the only ones beside Interplay who would have a legit use for it, we probably should have).

[Mobius]

Is it possible to buy it now?