From TWS forums: Take 2 and Copyright Issue

[Zaknafein]

Somebody from projectmagma or OM from mariusnet should really try and contact Take 2 again about the myth copyrights. We keep hearing this story about some age old event when somebody allegedly contacted Take 2 and they asked for a million dollars for the rights. We don't even know if this story is true in the first place, let alone if this is the case anymore 5-6 years later since then.

We should really ask them if a) do they own the rights anymore, b) do they even know if they own rights anymore, c) if they own the rights, what is the asking price for the franchise now.

Now I don't want to hear about some negative nonsense about blah this and blah that, we got nothing to lose by contacting Take. The worst thing that can happen is that they don't respond and all your bad rejection traumas from elementary school gym classes come flooding in. In the best case scenario they respond and we get an actual answer to these questions.

If they don't own the rights anymore, we can actively spread the download link for this game. If they own rights but ask for a reasonably small price for the rights, maybe we as a community could buy them, considering we actually got some really wealthy individuals playing the game. Please don't start with the negative "and then what?" line of questioning either. I'll repeat: we got nothing to lose by asking these questions from Take 2, but we potentially have a lot to gain.

I'm posting this for Grim, who lost his password for his forum account here. Please discuss.

[Jon God]

Somebody from projectmagma or OM from mariusnet should really try and contact Take 2 again about the myth copyrights. We keep hearing this story about some age old event when somebody allegedly contacted Take 2 and they asked for a million dollars for the rights. We don't even know if this story is true in the first place, let alone if this is the case anymore 5-6 years later since then.

We should really ask them if a) do they own the rights anymore, b) do they even know if they own rights anymore, c) if they own the rights, what is the asking price for the franchise now.

Now I don't want to hear about some negative nonsense about blah this and blah that, we got nothing to lose by contacting Take. The worst thing that can happen is that they don't respond and all your bad rejection traumas from elementary school gym classes come flooding in. In the best case scenario they respond and we get an actual answer to these questions.

If they don't own the rights anymore, we can actively spread the download link for this game. If they own rights but ask for a reasonably small price for the rights, maybe we as a community could buy them, considering we actually got some really wealthy individuals playing the game. Please don't start with the negative "and then what?" line of questioning either. I'll repeat: we got nothing to lose by asking these questions from Take 2, but we potentially have a lot to gain.

I'm posting this for Grim, who lost his password for his forum account here. Please discuss.

Right, so. Here's the story.

Magma has tried to contact Take 2 on a number of occasions. I've only been around for one of these times.

Basically here what happened. They didn't respond to most requests, and finally someone that had a lot of drive and some experience got ahold of someone in Take 2. It took them a while ti figure out what exactly was going on. They did not seem open to start selling Myth again, they weren't able to even consider it without a six figure down payment. No steam, no nothing.

Bungie themselves, after rebuying their freedom from Microsoft, tried to reobtain their old games, Myth and Oni. Take 2 quoted some high number, much higher than they'd ever be worth. Bungie turned them down, and that's that.

I can't imagine without a miracle, anything could be gotten from Take Two at this point.

I'm Jon God, and I approve this message.

[Zaknafein]

Right, well like I said about that story we've all heard now for years, we don't know what the situation is now. Pretty sure that story Jon god was talking about happened around 2007-2008? Not sure though. That is a long time ago. Magma should try and contact them again now about this issue, since like I said we got nothing to lose by asking.

It needs to be magma or mariusnet as they represent a more "official" part of the community. Their servers and websites are established community hubs and have been for years. Pretty sure PPE would be the best guy to do this as he can call himself as the guy maintains the server where the Take2 games can be played at.

Some random myth community guy like me contacting Take2 would have less of a chance of actually getting a response in this issue. It needs be someone who can talk business.

[Jon God]

Right, well like I said about that story we've all heard now for years, we don't know what the situation is now. Pretty sure that story Jon god was talking about happened around 2007-2008? Not sure though. That is a long time ago. Magma should try and contact them again now about this issue, since like I said we got nothing to lose by asking.

It needs to be magma or mariusnet as they represent a more "official" part of the community. Their servers and websites are established community hubs and have been for years. Pretty sure PPE would be the best guy to do this as he can call himself as the guy maintains the server where the Take2 games can be played at.

Some random myth community guy like me contacting Take2 would have less of a chance of actually getting a response in this issue. It needs be someone who can talk business.

No Bungie did back between 2007-2009(Not sure on the exact date), the point where magma talked to them was more recent than that.

[Melekor]

grim, you can use the "forgot password" feature on the forums to get a new password emailed to you. If you need your email reset to do that, email your new address to melekor@projectmagma.net and I'll reset it for you.

[iron]

I don't think Take Two would care about Magma or Mnet being community hubs - to them we're all random joes off the street unless we have fat wallets. Only money talks as far as T2 are concerned (and big money at that), unless there's been an extremely recent change of heart in their management. It costs them nothing to hold onto the Myth franchise, and they're not interested in what, to them, would be a trivial offer for the rights.

I don't mean to be negative, as we all hope that somehow Myth can be freed like Marathon was.

[GodzFire]

The difference between the two is that while Bungie retained the rights to Marathon and released it for the fans since there was no use hanging onto it, the only company that controls Myth is Take2, and they don't give a crap about the fanbase, much less realize they own it.

[spongefile]

Regarding the cost issue, one difference between 2009 and now is that now we have tools like Kickstarter.com, crowdfunder.co.uk, http://www.thepoint.com, etc...

I'm curious to know how big the six figure sum was. Big difference between 200,000 and 900,000.

I think Grim has a point regarding poking Take2 again--what's the worst that can happen? They ignore us again? Oh noes. Maybe if they get bugged enough over time, some new Take2 employees (it's not like it's the same people every time) will recognize the absurdity of this whole thing and the response will be different. So I support bugging on a regular basis over time.

[GodzFire]

I can follow up with my old contacts again and see what I can make happen, but again, just assume that nothing will come of it so you don't get your hopes up.

[Zaknafein]

No Bungie did back between 2007-2009(Not sure on the exact date), the point where magma talked to them was more recent than that.

That's why we should approach in the form of a potential buyer so we can see the sum they are asking.

Also the exact date would be rather crucial in this regard, Jon god. If it was last year then nothing has probably changed, but if it was more than that there's always a chance.

[GodzFire]

I love it when people say 'well just go talk to them and see what they want' like it's as simple as A) walking up to their door and knocking, B) someone answering the door and C) them knowing even knowing what Myth is and wanting to discuss it.

It's been TRIED. 90% of these attempts failed because we can't even get anyone to RESPOND regarding an inquiry.

[Pyro]

That's why we should approach in the form of a potential buyer so we can see the sum they are asking.

Also the exact date would be rather crucial in this regard, Jon god. If it was last year then nothing has probably changed, but if it was more than that there's always a chance.

It has been more than a year but less than 2. They wouldn't give an actual price but stated the offer made would have to be 6 figures. So they want the potential buyer to make the offer and they would then accept or decline. I don't know what price they might have given Bungie or if Bungie even made a specific offer.

While it might sound like the same story, there have been different attempts by different people through the years. The results are the same, which is why the story sounds the same. It might sound vague or like there is more to it, but the details start to fade with time as the people involved become inactive or forgotten because the attempt wasn't documented (like forum posts or other logs).

While a company (like Bungie) will have better luck getting a reply back than any fan or group of fans (everyone here), it would still cost a lot and be a hassle Take2 might not be interested in investing any time on.

[vinylrake]

I am confused what the goal is in buying the rights from TakeTwo. Is it to buy the rights so 'we' can distribute this 13 year old game for free and hopefully increase the number of players playing the game? or is it to buy the rights so some un-identified group can create a new version of Myth (Myth 4) with the intent of selling it and bringing more contemporary gamers into the Myth community?

[GodzFire]

Buy the rights to:

- Sell new copies of game for OSX, Windows, and Linux
- Release version for tablets
- Distribute game through services like Steam
- Work on a possible sequel/prequel

Those are 4 plausible goals.

[vinylrake]

thanks for the list. this topic was feeling like a yearly ritual i had seriously forgotten the point of.