After shutting down Phoenix Online Studios' lovingly crafted King's Quest fan project due to a licensing conflict back in February, it seems Activision has reconsidered its position. According to the indie developer's blog, Activision has rescinded its cease and desist, and has granted the studio a non-commercial license to release the game.
On July 10, Phoenix will release Chapter One of its 3D tribute to Roberta Williams' beloved adventure franchise, titled The Silver Lining. Thanks to Activision's demands, the game will be released for free. Click past the jump to see the title's (re)announcement trailer, or check out our impressions of an early demo of the game we checked out earlier this year.
Reader Comments (25)
Posted: Jun 27th 2010 3:51PM That Burning Sensation said
@MrCassian
"Wow, go Activision"
Woahh there, I wouldn't go that far. Kotick still has to do 500,000 hours of community service and give away a free map pack for me to even consider saying such a thing.
But yes I agree, this is a the first non-douchey thing they have done in a while.
Reply
"Wow, go Activision"
Woahh there, I wouldn't go that far. Kotick still has to do 500,000 hours of community service and give away a free map pack for me to even consider saying such a thing.
But yes I agree, this is a the first non-douchey thing they have done in a while.
Posted: Jun 27th 2010 5:13PM Ballistic H said
@MrCassian
I think it's part of Activision's plan to look good to the public:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6266809.html
I'm not falling in their trap.
Reply
I think it's part of Activision's plan to look good to the public:
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6266809.html
I'm not falling in their trap.
Posted: Jun 28th 2010 8:36AM mikeymilkshake said
@MrCassian
it's a trick. the keyword being "episodic."
episode one will be free, and everyone will be so pumped to get and play this game. then once you're hooked, activision will charge you 10 bucks for every episode after that.
Reply
it's a trick. the keyword being "episodic."
episode one will be free, and everyone will be so pumped to get and play this game. then once you're hooked, activision will charge you 10 bucks for every episode after that.
Posted: Jun 27th 2010 3:52PM That Burning Sensation said
@Shagittarius
Yes "never mind" indeed.
Reply
Yes "never mind" indeed.
Posted: Jun 27th 2010 2:49PM ZippyDSMlee said
I hope they try and get them to redo the series in 3D and sell it as DLC across all platforms!
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Posted: Jun 27th 2010 3:52PM Gibbeynator said
@Haywire If they let IA get away with doing THEIR unofficial King's Quest sequel, then we can cheer.
Reply
Posted: Jun 27th 2010 3:40PM One Stomy Night go watch it said
Maybe they thought nobody would play it cause EVERYONES already playing MW2 and we all know Adventure games are for light-in-loafers individuals.
Reply
Posted: Jun 27th 2010 5:15PM Alexisonfire said
This is like that completely assholish friend you had for a long time who you finally stopped talking to for months, then them getting you a small, but nice birthday present.
Thanks for the gift, but that doesn't make you any less of an asshole.
Reply
Thanks for the gift, but that doesn't make you any less of an asshole.
Posted: Jun 27th 2010 5:25PM Rick James said
I hope that this is good--I'd love for some of these older franchises to be resurrected. Hopefully there'll be a strong demand for this and activision will hire these people to keep on making these games.
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Posted: Jun 27th 2010 9:50PM rahmenxnoodles69 said
And what happened then? Well, in Whoville they say that the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day. And then - the true meaning of gaming came through, and the Grinch found the strength of *ten* Grinches, plus two!
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Posted: Jun 27th 2010 10:33PM warmonk said
hmm. I'm not sure why Activision would've done this. By letting this one slip by, everybody and their mother is going to try and start their own projects based on other Activision IP. They're going to spend all their time sending cease and desist letters.
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Posted: Jun 28th 2010 9:46AM mkrajew said
@warmonk
To be fair, Phoenix had the noncommercial license to make this game long before Activision entered the picture from the previous rights holder. Then when Activision got the rights to the property, they were going to shut them down. After 7 years of hard work on the game and thinking they were licensed to make it, it would have been terrible had Activision not changed their minds.
It's not like they need to make exceptions to everybody in the future, but this game had rights from the previous license holder which they simply extended when they took control. I'm very glad they did the right thing and let them continue to release their fan project.
Reply
To be fair, Phoenix had the noncommercial license to make this game long before Activision entered the picture from the previous rights holder. Then when Activision got the rights to the property, they were going to shut them down. After 7 years of hard work on the game and thinking they were licensed to make it, it would have been terrible had Activision not changed their minds.
It's not like they need to make exceptions to everybody in the future, but this game had rights from the previous license holder which they simply extended when they took control. I'm very glad they did the right thing and let them continue to release their fan project.
Posted: Jun 28th 2010 12:41AM LoveYouSomeEric said
I don't suppose I'll get to play this on my mac... :(
I grew up playing Sierra games, and they stir up some seriously strong nostalgia. I did always prefer Space Quest to King's Quest, but I would play a tribute like this any day.
Reply
I grew up playing Sierra games, and they stir up some seriously strong nostalgia. I did always prefer Space Quest to King's Quest, but I would play a tribute like this any day.
Posted: Jun 28th 2010 1:02AM Courtney said
Griffin,
"Thanks to Activision's demands, the game will be released for free."
While Activision may have required the game to be free, the developers also always intended to release it for free as far as I know from following it off and on for the last few years. Just kind of an odd statement, as it either blames or credits Activision for something that was going to happen that way anyway.
Reply
"Thanks to Activision's demands, the game will be released for free."
While Activision may have required the game to be free, the developers also always intended to release it for free as far as I know from following it off and on for the last few years. Just kind of an odd statement, as it either blames or credits Activision for something that was going to happen that way anyway.
Posted: Jun 28th 2010 8:10AM PoisonedAl said
Heh, this was a good move. The most relaxed around fan work is oddly Microsoft, who don't bother chasing fan sites and work as long as they don't try to sell it.
Activision still isn't the worse tho by a long-shot. The most sue happy douche bag corporation is Apple. Make something REMOTELY like their overpriced, trendy crap and Job's winged monkey lawyers will be after you.
Reply
Activision still isn't the worse tho by a long-shot. The most sue happy douche bag corporation is Apple. Make something REMOTELY like their overpriced, trendy crap and Job's winged monkey lawyers will be after you.
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