Originally posted by NotDefault
Although the Freespace community does not count for much in sales, it has some other benefits.
Modding. FS3 would quickly be attacked by modelers and mission creators, and this does count for something in reviews.
Word-of-mouth advertising. The FS community is very dedicated to the game. I'm sure it would get around that FS3 was coming out, and how great it would be.
Not only that, but Volition has said that they would make FS3 if given the opportunity. It doesn't hurt to have your programmers dedicated towards the project (unlike, say, a Britney Spears game).
The highly positive reviews for FS and FS2 will help, as well. The FS franchise is definately on the radar screen of review sites. They would spend a little extra time looking into it, at least.
As has been mentioned elsewhere, FS3 would actually lend itself quite nicely to console gaming. There would have to be some changes (shield strength modification would likely have to be eliminated in favour of automatic constant equalization), but overall the experience would work well on a console. It also works well on a PC (and THQ knows this because of the first two games). Perhaps some sort of XBox crossover could be done; I don't know much about console development, but I thought that the XBox had a development enviroment that was very similar to that for Windows.
Then consider that this could all be done for a dirt-cheap price because Interplay is desperate. I voted Yes, because I think if THQ has any sense they'll buy the franchise (even if they don't use it right away).
*sigh* I guess you wouldn't be to know...
I've seen what happens to games when separate companies buy the rights. It's never pretty, and it's never very much like the original- 's like re-releasing your favorite movie (TV show, whatever, I don't follow much of that) with a completely new director, different cast, different plot and scriptwriters, using different props, all going for a completely different sort of production. Companies rarely feel the need to stay faithful to the original vision, and even if they do, they're not very successful very often. I should know...
THOSE BASTARDS AT ZUXXEZ TURNED MY E2150 INTO AN RPG!!!! 
And it's not the only example, though it's the one that remains freshest in the mind, in the same way that salt on a wound tends to linger...
Just because Volition supported modding doesn't mean any new producer would. It's entirely up to the publisher, and despite all the very good reasons for a mod-friendly game, most publishers don't like to make their games so. And Volition wouldn't be making it again- they're working for THQ now, and THQ wouldn't be interested. Even if they were, they'd likely change it completely to fit the sort of things THEY make, which is very different from what Volition and Interplay generally dealt in. Hope, pray nobody buys the rights to FreeSpace. If you think that having no sequel is bad, imagine how much worse having a distorted abomination calling itself a sequel which does not even slightly resemble the orignal would be... That's the sort of catastrophe that kills gaming communities, though the original remains.
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