Posted June 10, 2013
https://www.facebook.com/TheNeverhoodGame/posts/10151798608889466
Doug TenNapel:
"I've explained this before, but I'll be very thorough now. Intellectual Property rights are no different than you owning and controlling your couch. Once you buy it, I can't come into your house and take a picture of it, then sell that picture to make money. You own it. So back in the day, we needed one point something million dollars to make the first Neverhood game, and publishers would pay you the money, but you HAD TO assign the character rights to the company. I did that with Earthworm Jim and Neverhood, so I own and control neither one of those characters or worlds. It was the price of admission to getting to do a game.
So Dreamworks Interactive paid for the game to be made, and own the Neverhood characters (I own the name Neverhood, but can't make a project that represents itself as that game). Dreamworks Interactive was sold to EA. We've tried for years to work out a deal with EA, but it never made sense to them to do it for a number of reasons. They never fully understood the fanbase for the game, but that's not my problem.
But if I put Klaymen, or Ottoborg, or any other character from the Neverhood in this new game, even in the tiniest way, I've effectively used EA's "couch" without their permission. They have the right to THEIR intellectual property and could instantly cease every asset of the game and demand it not be sold. It would tangle the game up in a way that would be stupid to even try.
I want to note that EA is not being bad in protecting their property, and they have no obligation to make an iPhone port or to let me use the character... I sold them the couch after all when I assigned the character rights to Dreamworks Interactive. If it was up to me, I'd make 800 Neverhood sequels the same way that I would make 800 new Earthworm Jim games. It's not my decision, and it's not my place. It's MUCH easier (and frankly, funner) to create something new!"
Doug TenNapel:
"I've explained this before, but I'll be very thorough now. Intellectual Property rights are no different than you owning and controlling your couch. Once you buy it, I can't come into your house and take a picture of it, then sell that picture to make money. You own it. So back in the day, we needed one point something million dollars to make the first Neverhood game, and publishers would pay you the money, but you HAD TO assign the character rights to the company. I did that with Earthworm Jim and Neverhood, so I own and control neither one of those characters or worlds. It was the price of admission to getting to do a game.
So Dreamworks Interactive paid for the game to be made, and own the Neverhood characters (I own the name Neverhood, but can't make a project that represents itself as that game). Dreamworks Interactive was sold to EA. We've tried for years to work out a deal with EA, but it never made sense to them to do it for a number of reasons. They never fully understood the fanbase for the game, but that's not my problem.
But if I put Klaymen, or Ottoborg, or any other character from the Neverhood in this new game, even in the tiniest way, I've effectively used EA's "couch" without their permission. They have the right to THEIR intellectual property and could instantly cease every asset of the game and demand it not be sold. It would tangle the game up in a way that would be stupid to even try.
I want to note that EA is not being bad in protecting their property, and they have no obligation to make an iPhone port or to let me use the character... I sold them the couch after all when I assigned the character rights to Dreamworks Interactive. If it was up to me, I'd make 800 Neverhood sequels the same way that I would make 800 new Earthworm Jim games. It's not my decision, and it's not my place. It's MUCH easier (and frankly, funner) to create something new!"
Post edited June 11, 2013 by Barry_Woodward
