FASA was planning on releasing books based on Star Fleet Marines, and Paramount/CBS thought that was too violent and was retconning the IP to suit their new vision I.E. TNG, so they yanked the license on FASA.
How long ago the license was pulled isn't relevant. What is relevant is that Paramount/CBS has established that they are willing to yank the license if they feel like it.
How long ago it was is relevant here, because the process STO and other Trek game developers have referenced of having to get every minor thing preapproved did not exist at the time, FASA was allowed to go from scratch to market without review by Paramount, and continued to do so over objections from Paramount - a condition that the present system does not allow.
Should I merge this with one of the other "Dooomm" threads, or send it to Ten Forward so you all can discuss Warhammer?
I will say this... to those of you who choose to forecast doom for this game because you don't like certain things about it...
It's not going to get you another Star Trek MMO. This is the one we have and if it fails what makes you think we'd get another one? ANY Star Trek game, for that matter?
The doom and gloom forecasts do nothing to get what you want, except that they hurt the image of this game, potentially scare off new players, and hurt the chances of future Star Trek games from seeing the light of day.
I'm not suggesting that you stop providing negative feedback about things you don't like. I'm suggesting that cheering for STO to crash and burn is not really in your best interests.
How long ago it was is relevant here, because the process STO and other Trek game developers have referenced of having to get every minor thing preapproved did not exist at the time, FASA was allowed to go from scratch to market without review by Paramount, and continued to do so over objections from Paramount - a condition that the present system does not allow.
I don't think STO has to get everything approved, just the big picture stuff. In the case of FASA, like you mentioned, they didn't preapprove anything and made the mistake of waiting until FASA printed things to decide if they liked them.
1. Cryptic/PWE will not publically reveal when the license for Star Trek Online is up for renewal. This is not some evil manipulation behind the cruel dark overlords that we dutifully farm dilithium and buy zen for, this is normal in any business. Revealing when the license is up for renewal ends up hurting share prices and investor faith. They aren't going to do that, and neither will other businesses with similar arrangements.
2. CBS will likely not pull the license or refuse to renew said license barring some cosmic event that causes STO to stop making money. CBS is getting a big chunk of change from STO, and they don't even have to really do anything other than say, "That looks good. That doesn't look good, change it." And everytime CBS Studios says 'Jump.' Cryptic has always responded with 'How high?', this is normal. Money talks. STO is making money. Anyone who says otherwise is delusional.
3. CBS Studios does care about the franchise. It is their franchise. They own it. They can do what they want with it the same as anyone else can with their own intellectual property. If they say 'I want Kirk to be reincarnated as an Emperor Penguin and go on fish hunting adventures in the Antarctic, and I want it to be canon.', then they just need to find an author who wants to make money and now it's canon. If you don't agree with CBS Studios or Cryptic, tough luck. It isn't your intellectual property. Cryptic has changed a lot due to CBS Studios intervening (Anyone remember when we had the ability to color our weapon energy?). Just because CBS Studios doesn't do what you think is right for the health of STO doesn't mean they don't care. They just don't care about what your opinion entails. STO is obviously making money, and CBS is therefore making money. So who is to say they're doing the franchise wrong? Other than arbitrary Star Trek fan opinions. Which have never mattered. Ever.
4. All game companies are not created equal. What happens in Hello Kitty Online does not matter to us. Some IPs are handled well, some are not. Lucasarts pulled the plug from SWG to double-down on TOR. Mind you, SWG was managed badly for some time and to this day stands as living proof that you have to listen to your customers.
5. Wishing death on STO is counter-productive. As bluegeek said already, it does not help at all. If Star Trek fans are good at anything, it's destroying their own beloved fandom. It's not going to stop after I post 'Reply' to this thread, and it won't stop decades from now. All we can do is continue to play the game and enjoy it. All good things must come to an end eventually, and I would hope that STO lives a long and prosperous life -- because this is the only Star Trek MMO there is. Get used to it.
6. ST Excalibur and any other third party developer creating a Star Trek game not licensed by CBS Studios might find themselves given a cease and desist order. It doesn't matter if they aren't making money off of it, a company is legally obligated to try to protect their trademark, otherwise it might be considered part of the public domain. As much as Star Trek being in the public domain would be awesome, this is a very bad thing for CBS Studios and they do not want that to happen.
7. This game has survived for three years of doom and gloom, and the year of hell (2011) is over. Unless PWE, Cryptic Studios, and CBS Studios decide they really don't like making money off of us, this game will continue for some time. But money talks louder than whining, and we're doing a lot of talking. They're for-profit corporations, not Star Trek fans living in their moms' basements. They aren't going to cut off their nose to spite their face in the way some people on the forums want STO to do.
Like the title says Warhammer: Age of Reckoning (WAR) is shutting down on Dec 18th. Its not because it was an attempted WOW killer or that it was an EA owned game or that it had 20 servers at launch and then 2 at the end due to low population or that its owners stubbornly refused to join the F2P wagon which many players believed would have gotten it healthy again. No, it is being shutdown because the IP holder (Games Workshop) pulled the license, so legally it cannot continue.
Okay now you are asking "Why does this matter to me? I play Star Trek Online (STO)"
It matters because STO might suffer the same fate. World of ******** (WoW) is run by the same company as its IP holder, so it's immune to this.
All of Cryptic's games are the Intellectual Property (IP) of others, so they could all suffer the same fate!
I want a Dev or equivalent to answer this: When does the IP for STO end?
Based on the increasing success of the game what are the odds the CBS will keep renewing the license?
Um WAR is over for a variety of reasons and the situation of it's closure is very different from STO's (past and present).
The fact is EA wrote off WAR a LONG time ago. They also didn't take it F2P because (at the time) they were dumping money into SWToR's development, and for whatever reason, didn't think the ROI on spending money to convert WAR to F2P was worth it. WAR would have also shutdown MUCH sooner; but EA had an ironclad licensing agreement with Games Workshop that mandated the game be run until the license agreement came up for renewal - and EA also felt that they'd loose more by buying out of the agreement early. (And yes, it was EA who opted not to renew.)
STO is in a whole different situation:
- STO survived Atari and being sold to PWE.
- Since PWE took over, they've expanded the STO Dev team; and had a pretty steady content/update release schedule; and in May, just released the LoR expansion (Which has been considered a financial success.) [In contrast WAR never had a single true Expansion released.]
- CBS is also happy and involved with STO.
- Given the 50th Anniversary of the premiere of TOS on TV will be in 2016; unless there's some sort of major falling out between Cryptic/PWE/CBS; or the STO's profitability REALLY REALLY tanks; I don't see any chance of STO sunsetting prior to 2017 at the earliest; and depending on how the next Star Trek feature film does (which I also think will be released in 2016 to take advantage of a '50th Anniversary of Star Trek' tie in) - and whether Paramount decides to do a fourth film; or partner with CBS for a new Star Trek TV series of some kind - CBS will probably want to keep STO going as it's something to engage the fanbase as these Film or TV projects ramp up.
So, yeah, just because a failed and largely developer/publisher abandoned MMO that was based off a licensed IP (such as WAR) was finally sunsetted due to low playerbase; and an unwillingness of EA to convert the game to a F2P or F2P/Hybrid model - the particular situation that caused this is nothing like the situation STO is currently in.
Again, it's not impossible that the situation could change and either CBS or PWE/Cryptic could decide to sunset STO; but what happened with WAR is not any sort a pre-cursor indication of what could and couldn't happen to STO.
Formerly known as Armsman from June 2008 to June 20, 2012 PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."
Comments
How long ago it was is relevant here, because the process STO and other Trek game developers have referenced of having to get every minor thing preapproved did not exist at the time, FASA was allowed to go from scratch to market without review by Paramount, and continued to do so over objections from Paramount - a condition that the present system does not allow.
I have been following Excalibur for awhile, looks promising. I like Fleet Ops as well, pretty cool for 3rd party developers.
:eek: DOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMM!!!!!!!!
My character Tsin'xing
2. CBS will likely not pull the license or refuse to renew said license barring some cosmic event that causes STO to stop making money. CBS is getting a big chunk of change from STO, and they don't even have to really do anything other than say, "That looks good. That doesn't look good, change it." And everytime CBS Studios says 'Jump.' Cryptic has always responded with 'How high?', this is normal. Money talks. STO is making money. Anyone who says otherwise is delusional.
3. CBS Studios does care about the franchise. It is their franchise. They own it. They can do what they want with it the same as anyone else can with their own intellectual property. If they say 'I want Kirk to be reincarnated as an Emperor Penguin and go on fish hunting adventures in the Antarctic, and I want it to be canon.', then they just need to find an author who wants to make money and now it's canon. If you don't agree with CBS Studios or Cryptic, tough luck. It isn't your intellectual property. Cryptic has changed a lot due to CBS Studios intervening (Anyone remember when we had the ability to color our weapon energy?). Just because CBS Studios doesn't do what you think is right for the health of STO doesn't mean they don't care. They just don't care about what your opinion entails. STO is obviously making money, and CBS is therefore making money. So who is to say they're doing the franchise wrong? Other than arbitrary Star Trek fan opinions. Which have never mattered. Ever.
4. All game companies are not created equal. What happens in Hello Kitty Online does not matter to us. Some IPs are handled well, some are not. Lucasarts pulled the plug from SWG to double-down on TOR. Mind you, SWG was managed badly for some time and to this day stands as living proof that you have to listen to your customers.
5. Wishing death on STO is counter-productive. As bluegeek said already, it does not help at all. If Star Trek fans are good at anything, it's destroying their own beloved fandom. It's not going to stop after I post 'Reply' to this thread, and it won't stop decades from now. All we can do is continue to play the game and enjoy it. All good things must come to an end eventually, and I would hope that STO lives a long and prosperous life -- because this is the only Star Trek MMO there is. Get used to it.
6. ST Excalibur and any other third party developer creating a Star Trek game not licensed by CBS Studios might find themselves given a cease and desist order. It doesn't matter if they aren't making money off of it, a company is legally obligated to try to protect their trademark, otherwise it might be considered part of the public domain. As much as Star Trek being in the public domain would be awesome, this is a very bad thing for CBS Studios and they do not want that to happen.
7. This game has survived for three years of doom and gloom, and the year of hell (2011) is over. Unless PWE, Cryptic Studios, and CBS Studios decide they really don't like making money off of us, this game will continue for some time. But money talks louder than whining, and we're doing a lot of talking. They're for-profit corporations, not Star Trek fans living in their moms' basements. They aren't going to cut off their nose to spite their face in the way some people on the forums want STO to do.
*Standing Ovation*
ok i will buy it right now ROFL
Um WAR is over for a variety of reasons and the situation of it's closure is very different from STO's (past and present).
The fact is EA wrote off WAR a LONG time ago. They also didn't take it F2P because (at the time) they were dumping money into SWToR's development, and for whatever reason, didn't think the ROI on spending money to convert WAR to F2P was worth it. WAR would have also shutdown MUCH sooner; but EA had an ironclad licensing agreement with Games Workshop that mandated the game be run until the license agreement came up for renewal - and EA also felt that they'd loose more by buying out of the agreement early. (And yes, it was EA who opted not to renew.)
STO is in a whole different situation:
- STO survived Atari and being sold to PWE.
- Since PWE took over, they've expanded the STO Dev team; and had a pretty steady content/update release schedule; and in May, just released the LoR expansion (Which has been considered a financial success.) [In contrast WAR never had a single true Expansion released.]
- CBS is also happy and involved with STO.
- Given the 50th Anniversary of the premiere of TOS on TV will be in 2016; unless there's some sort of major falling out between Cryptic/PWE/CBS; or the STO's profitability REALLY REALLY tanks; I don't see any chance of STO sunsetting prior to 2017 at the earliest; and depending on how the next Star Trek feature film does (which I also think will be released in 2016 to take advantage of a '50th Anniversary of Star Trek' tie in) - and whether Paramount decides to do a fourth film; or partner with CBS for a new Star Trek TV series of some kind - CBS will probably want to keep STO going as it's something to engage the fanbase as these Film or TV projects ramp up.
So, yeah, just because a failed and largely developer/publisher abandoned MMO that was based off a licensed IP (such as WAR) was finally sunsetted due to low playerbase; and an unwillingness of EA to convert the game to a F2P or F2P/Hybrid model - the particular situation that caused this is nothing like the situation STO is currently in.
Again, it's not impossible that the situation could change and either CBS or PWE/Cryptic could decide to sunset STO; but what happened with WAR is not any sort a pre-cursor indication of what could and couldn't happen to STO.
PWE ARC Drone says: "Your STO forum community as you have known it is ended...Display names are irrelevant...Any further sense of community is irrelevant...Resistance is futile...You will be assimilated..."