The saga continues. Bards will sing songs about the long but fruitless fight.
The HeroQuest 25th Anniversary Project has been taken down by the Spanish crowdfunding site named Verkami.
How could this have happened if they had the rights / owned the trademark / believed elephants could fly?
Because they (as in GameZone) see just one thing - dollar signs at this point. Let the games continue.
Dead link to the project is here: http://www.verkami.com/projects/7464-heroquest-25th-anniversary
edit: thanks to ThisOldCoder for the heads up
edit edit: grabbed the following screenshot from BoardGameGeek
"Because they (as in GameZone) see just one thing - dollar signs at this point."
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure greed is the real motivation for why this mess just keeps plugging along at getting messier: I think their clearly stubborn, willful ignorance is. Someone's telling them they can't do this and they just. don't. get. it.
If they had licensed the rights from Moon Design, none of this would have happened.
DeleteWhy didn't they? It cost money.
Why did the got from a goal of $58k Canadian to 58k Euros, an increase oin goal of over 40%? Money.
I think once they realized the cash potential in this project, dollar signs became a major influence.
I am not, however, discounting willful ignorance ;)
Moon Design doesn't have the rights needed here. This is the Games Workshop HeroQuest game they're dealing with.
DeleteMoon Design doesn't have the rights needed here. This is the Games Workshop HeroQuest game they're dealing with.
DeleteIt's complicated. Moon Design own the Trademark "HeroQuest" (in North America at least) and publish an RPG under that name (so they DO need to license the trademark from Moon Design). Meanwhile Hasbro (I think) own the copyright on the boardgame published by MB/GW.
DeleteI have a feeling they are trying to go about the process backwards, by using the funds generated to purchase the rights, and they keep getting the hammer.
ReplyDeleteEither that, or they're trying to exploit some loophole that simply doesn't exist.
What they could do is start selling the minis under a different label, and use the profits generated to purchase the rights and then release the product. Will they? Probably not. I expect to see an IndiGoGo or GoFundMe link within the near future, which will subsequently encounter the same issues.
I guess they should just change the name already and make us a wonderful game.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, Verkami pulled it down because they just learned about the Kickstarter fiasco and don't want their name and reputation dragged into the whole mess. Apparently Gamezone was not forthright about these issues when the talking to them about the new campaign.
ReplyDeleteWhich is just more damaging to them. Now they have announced that they are looking for a third crowd funder to start it up again.
Yes, they could use the existing customer base they have generated and publish a brand new game. HQ the board game was simple and could easily be changed to improve it, and avoid copyright issues.
ReplyDeleteProducing their own game would go a long way toward instilling confidence this isn't just another hollow scheme cash grab, too. Which I am starting to think it is.
ReplyDelete