Battlezone 3 RANT

[Killer AK]

Well, I've been tracking Rebellion for the last little while. They are the company that has the rights to Battlezone now.
I had been hoping maybe I should hear some news about a planned project for a Battlezone 3. Or a least a hint.
I have been having their new game zombie army trilogy show up on my news feeds on facebook and everything about this company
is nothing but imagery of satanism.
They can't come out with anything else but the same repeated line..........demonology type stuff.
I hope another company buys the BZ rights off them, because I don't think i want to see these guys publishing my favourite title.
And for those who don't know the Lord Jesus, I've met a lot of Christians playing BZ.

[Ded10c]

They are the company that has the rights to Battlezone now.

I don't know where people keep getting this information. All the information we have suggests they own the rights to Battlezone (1980) and Battlezone 2000; we have nothing to suggest they own Battlezone and Battlezone II even after a twitter conversation with the CEO.

[LtFEED]

hmmm

so who owns the copywrite to BZ98 and BZ2?

are those separate TM's?

i wonder how much they spent on those brands?

[MrTwosheds]

I believe what they bought (at an auction) was the right to use the name Battlezone rather than the rights to any existing games. This does not mean that they have any plans to build such a game, more likely just plan to sell the franchise on at some point.

[blue banana]

Chances are, Activision still owns the IP for BZ1 and BZ2. Reason is that Activision was never part of the auction, and the game assets were never owned by Atari (who was the seller). Rebellion making a Battlezone 3 as an entry in "our" series is easily impossible.

[MrTwosheds]

Not impossible, the right to do so is what they have bought, it doesn't mean that they have any intention of doing so.

[Red Devil]

i want to see sniper elite x-ray shots in bz2.

[LtFEED]

anyways....

$533,000 seems like a lot of bread to lay out for a dormant brand, IMO.

I do understand the value of name recognition, but 533$k? seems a little steep.

Maybe, Mayber, Maybe, I could buy the brand next year. (now that we got greenlit, we have had alot of interest in funding our game).

I can also contact Ken Levine. I might bring up this issue with him (Ken was one of our original backers on Kickstarter). Ken is always willing to listen to a good idea, but the ROI had better be there. He has always expressed interest in the BZ game, I know he is a BZ'er from back in the day.

Im very curious to see what IP has been purchased, what Atari still owns (these guys are the ' blue eyed devils'), and if Activision has any stake in the brand. Anthony mentioned that there might be some IP in copywrite purgatory.

It seems odd that a studio would shell out that much cash for that brand without having an intention of developing it. Do they really think that brand is going to appreciate in value?

[Red Devil]

i'm thinking they did it just to annoy people, so that someone else who really wanted it couldn't have it.

[Ded10c]

Post that got snipped with the move -

Also bear in mind that this is the company that owns 2000AD (Judge Dredd, amongst others), has extensive work on the Alien vs Predator series and produced two of the four Battlefront games. And that's just part of their extensive back catalogue.

Now, the questions I can answer;

I don't see why they would try to keep something like that a secret, not unless they themselves are unsure if they have the rights to it?

It's for a variety of reasons, but chief amongst them is usually to avoid disappointment when the final product doesn't live up to what the players expect as a result of early disclosures.

so who owns the copywrite to BZ98 and BZ2?

We don't know. Could be Activision, could be EA, could be Rebellion, could be in IP hell. EA is the least likely but we don't have enough information to say for certain between the others.

are those separate TM's?

Seperate games, so the names are trademarked separately; but the same IP, so the story is protected as a single unit.

i wonder how much they spent on those brands?

$566,500

I believe what they bought (at an auction) was the right to use the name Battlezone rather than the rights to any existing games.

That's what the sources we have suggest.

This does not mean that they have any plans to build such a game, more likely just plan to sell the franchise on at some point.

Given Rebellion's past and size it's fair to say they're not inclined to acts like this.

[Ded10c]

These guys are not about to buy something they don't intend to use. They're a small independent company, and while successful they can't just throw money at things to stop people using them. They most certainly intend to develop it. I suspect they also own the Activision IP - Dx claims there is a contract that reverted it to Atari - but we have no solid proof of that.

Given that you already have the Bionite IP, i'd advise heavily against trying to buy Battlezone as well. Both games are incredibly similar and you wouldn't be able to develop both in a different enough way to make both viable - you'd have to split your efforts between two games doing the same thing when you could do it twice as well for one of them.

I should point out that if it's in IP hell then there's nothing that can be done with it anyway; it's subject to the 70-odd year term until its copyright expires and it's considered public domain.

[MrTwosheds]

i'm thinking they did it just to annoy people, so that someone else who really wanted it couldn't have it.

Nah, these guys are Brits, it was an auction, a few beers down the hatch...Surprised they didn't end up with a stuffed Giraffe and some Elvis suits too It's a good Title for anyone to have, they could easily sell it again and probably make more money than they would actually making the game.

[Red Devil]

i think you're right

[Red Spot]

Chances are, Activision still owns the IP for BZ1 and BZ2. Reason is that Activision was never part of the auction, and the game assets were never owned by Atari (who was the seller). Rebellion making a Battlezone 3 as an entry in "our" series is easily impossible.

Afaik Pandemic 'purchased' the right to use the name Battlezone. If correct it means it is pointless to have the IP for BZ1 and/or BZ2 since you cant actually do anything with the IP for the games, assets or not.
They might be the ones slapping you in the fingers if you (ab)use their IP though.

[Ded10c]

Afaik Pandemic 'purchased' the right to use the name Battlezone. If correct it means it is pointless to have the IP for BZ1 and/or BZ2 since you cant actually do anything with the IP for the games, assets or not.
They might be the ones slapping you in the fingers if you (ab)use their IP though.

Licensed, not purchased. Had it been purchased Activision would be unlikely to remain the publisher - and purchasing an IP would be a massive investment for a new company. Remember also that Pandemic was started out of the developers of the Battlezone and Dark Reign teams - and went on to develop the sequels for both games under Activision's supervision.