UPDATE: Star Control: Origins can now be purchased directly on Stardock’s web page for $19.99.
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ORIGINAL STORY: Stardock’s Star Control: Origins was supposed to be a promising restart for the historic space exploration series. But instead, it’s been sucked into a vicious legal black hole.
Based on this news story from Polygon, the company’s just-released Origins has suddenly disappeared from both Steam and GOG following a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (or DMCA) filing, which has been made by the franchise’s original creators, Fred Ford and Paul Reiche. This came after the publisher attempted to get the injunction denied, only for the District court to allow it to proceed.
Stardock CEO Brad Wardell has noted that the legal battle is likely to cost the company more than expected, as it is now forced “to lay off some of the men and women who are assigned to the game” to balance those legal costs.
The story behind Star Control‘s rights is an interesting one. Originally, Stardock had purchased them from Atari back in 2013, following a bankruptcy auction. Shortly thereafter, it announced it was bringing back the series with Origins, with a release month of late last year.
The publisher believed it “acquired the rights to Star Control 1/2/3,” but Ford and Reiche say otherwise, indicating that they own the rights.
Those two stated that they had their own Star Control sequel in the works, called Ghost of the Precursors. But Stardock filed a suit to block that release, which led to Ford and Reiche reacting with their own countersuit.
The judge behind the case, Judge Armstrong, has noted, “The harm Plaintiff [Stardock] complains of is indeed of its own making. Plaintiff had knowledge of Defendants’ [Ford and Reiche’s] copyright claims from the outset. Despite that knowledge, it developed potentially infringing material without resolution of the IP ownership issues, and then publicized the release of that material during the pendency of this action. It now claims that its investment in Origins and reputation are on the line. Given that Plaintiff largely created the foregoing predicament, the Court is disinclined to extricate Plaintiff from a peril of its own making.”
Stardock has indicated that it plans to sell Origins on its own website, though those plans are still being finalized. Ford and Reiche haven’t commented on what’s happening yet, but more than likely, they’ll say they have the rights to make their sequel to Star Control 2: The Ur-Quan Masters.
We’ll keep following this case to see what happens with Origins and Ghost of the Precursors. But our thoughts go out to the Stardock staffers that are losing their jobs over this legal squabble.
Want to discuss more of the history of Star Control? Follow me on Twitter at @TheDCD!
