The Third Doctrinal War -- Stardock, Reiche/Ford, and Star Control

Valve must have people on staff just to reinstate Grimoire (Cleve Blakemore) reviews…

The incline is all around us, we just have to see.

So I was walking down the sidewalk on Market Street during GDC, and I see a familiar face. It takes a second to place Paul Reiche. And who do you think he’s with?? These guys really are attached at the hip.

I should have gone into professional-introduction mode, but I basically went right in to fan-boy mode; I must have been talking 90-miles-a-minute. I told them SC2 was my favorite game of all time, blathered briefly about who I am, and said good luck in the legal struggle and that I hope they will eventually get to make Ghosts of the Precursors.

NO I didn’t get a selfie with them, because I’m too self-conscious for that!

That’s my big issue, I just found Stardock’s version of this game to be well, boring.

Good writing, but gameplay was just mediocre in the most mediocre of ways. Sorcerer King was more entertaining.

Aw, and I thought we we’re going to get the surprise!

I had hoped for an update, too.

Oh well. Might as well share a picture of a puppy then.

Idea: an animal shelter that puts tons of work into renderings of dogs and landing pages so people pay $1-2k to adopt the dog. And they can take it home and play with the full dog right away.

I had my cryin’ eyes all ready!

In addition, the court denies GOG’s motion to dismiss Reiche and Ford’s claims against them (which is not a finding on the merits, just a statement that those claims can proceed.)

This isn’t a slam dunk for F+P in that the suit is far from over, but it’s yet another in the steady drip-drip-drip of Stardock’s attorneys being generally out-lawyered in the pleadings.

It really does seem the JV team is writing Stardock’s complaints. I chuckled at this bit regarding the claims that the dismissed counts “are not solely predicated on the DMCA take-down notices”.

“Submission of the DMCA notices is not offered as “but one
example,” Opp’n at 9, but rather, the only example of interference. In fact, given the
absence of words such as “including” or “for example,” the plain language of the claims
does not even suggest an intent to rely on other acts of alleged interference.

Was this Derek’s big announcement teased a few months ago?

No. It’s not something he could have known.

Derek is the omnissiah.

It knew.

Sorry to whoosh you, but…whoosh.

Light at the end of the tunnel?

WHEREAS, Stardock and Reiche/Ford have engaged in direct settlement negotiations
over the past two weeks and believe they are close to reaching agreement to settle this matter in its
entirety.

It would be the end result I think most of us were expecting (at the very least hoping). It’s too bad so much damage was done along the way. There’s not really walking back a lot of the things said/done during this ugly dispute, and it may well have contributed to what I presume was a lack of success with Star Control: Origins.

We might still all be surprised and see a settlement that is a completely capitulation by P&F because they can’t afford to go on, but that seem unlikely given the timing of this happening right at the end of discovery. If I were to speculate Stardock likely found little useful for proving damages in discovery, no big PR plot against them. P&F probably found multiple instances of Bard intentionally choosing to make the game more like SC2. After discovery it became apparent who had the stronger case and stronger claim for damages.

If I were to guess, I’d bet the litigation was a minuscule factor. Most of the audience would probably be blissfully unaware of it. Or, put another way, if everyone buying the game had their eyes on the court case and an opinion on who was right or wrong… then the size of the audience is way too small for a hit. Maybe the Steam reviews took a hit from one corner of the fan base, so that probably didn’t help. But if everyone else loved the game, then I think they would have gotten mostly buried. It sounds like the game was pretty good in some respects and mediocre in others, which is unfortunately not enough to have a break-out hit from a niche strategy developer, especially when it’s the biggest budget title they’ve ever made.

The indications of a settlement are likely to be good news for everyone.

We’re all going to be deprived of the spectacle of the trial though, so that’s a bummer.

Just kidding, good on them for finally thinking things through.