Hi, Recession!

Sorry to hear about your news Scott. Hopefully there is a new project out there for you and your team – and soon.

Perhaps even a way to buy your work/code from the current owner so you can continue it elsewhere.

@Dan Magaha: Ugh. That stinks.
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I don’t want to hijack the thread too badly, but a huge pet peeve of mine about our industry is the tremendous amount of code, art, animations, design, etc. that is just rotting on some hard drive somewhere (or for Tabula Rasa – floating in space) totally unused and underutilized.
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I understand why companies hoard it, I do. But I hate it. Philosophically, I also do not believe this is what Intellectual Property was all about. This is not “furthering the useful arts” at all when all someone does is stuff it in a vault and never use it.
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When I think of the possible games we would have if companies would sell off unused assets, or even release it into the public domain 5 years after it is unused… *sigh*

@Cosmik: I was referencing the part of the Constitution that for all intents and purposes, created IP law. Article 1, Section 8: (The Congress shall have power…) … To promote the progress of science and useful arts, by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive right to their respective writings and discoveries.
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When I read that, I do not interpret that as intending to give people the right to bury things for years, decades, or centuries for no purpose other than preventing anyone else from making use of the work.
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geldonyetich: I am certainly not saying people should just give things away. I am a Capitalist. My point is simply this: it is an absolute tragic waste when companies hoard such works when they have absolutely no intention of using them AND they are totally unwilling to sell them for any reasonable price. I am not calling for any kind of government action here. I am saying I think it is incredibly tragic when companies hoard elements of unfinished or shut down games just because they can.
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I don’t buy the argument that a company would be financially harmed by releasing work into the public domain if they have no intention of EVER using it and no interest in selling it. I actually remember a mech type game many years ago that did this. I still play games to this day that I swear use some of the sound effects they released.

One more point: What I think happens in a lot of cases is publishers don’t want to sell the work and watch someone else actually succeed with it. And this is not for financial reasons (the gaming market is NOT a fixed pie) but for pride reasons. If someone else makes the game work, when they couldn’t, then they look incompetent.
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Take Tabula Rasa for example. What if someone was willing to buy all the source code and rights to the game for a couple million bucks. That’s actually a pretty good deal for NCSoft if they truly have ZERO intention of ever releasing the game or using its assets.
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I think the reason NCSoft would not do the deal has less to do with money and more to do with pride. If that company does better with TR than NCSoft did, they have to face the fact that they are pretty might the Asian EA when it comes to utter MMO failures (Tabula Rasa, Auto Assault, Dungeon Runners, etc.).

> And I was explaining why there’s more to it than “just
> because they can.”

And I am saying that those “more” reasons you mention are not always present. In fact, they very often are not, and that’s an example of our IP laws being used for a very unintended purpose.
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Further, some of those “more” reasons do not benefit the market or nation as a whole, and are thus not compatible with the initial reason for IP laws.

@wowpanda: I don’t want you or anyone else to think I am anti-IP laws. I am very pro. I own a small indie game development company. I don’t want my IP to be stolen by a “big guy” either.
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But IP protection was never supposed to be absolute and infinite. The way IP law is developing now is a complete abomination compared to its intended design.
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And just from a general business sense, I think it is a net loss to the industry (and therefore even a loss to the companies doing the hoarding) when companies hoard content they have ZERO intention of ever using.
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As much as many of us dislike the MPAA, RIAA, etc., at least those industries have made an effort to work together for the good of their members. What do we have as game developers? Not much. In the long run, we will need something. We will need to find a way to care more about our industry as a whole while still caring about our own companies.