Well this is a shame but in many ways to be expected. Take-Two Interactive Software, the parent company of Rockstar Games, has filed a lawsuit against the developers of the reverse-engineered GTA III and Vice City code.
This is a bit of an ongoing saga, as Take-Two first got the GitHub repositories taken down, which were later restored when the developer of a fork submitted a counter-notice which wasn't argued so they all went back up. The repositories are still live on GitHub right now. The notice mentions this with Take-Two saying the counter notices were "were made in bad faith, and knowingly and deliberately misrepresented to GitHub the contents".
Plenty more is argued as well of course. In the notice it complains how the code now runs on platforms it was never released for where the "Defendants have sought to exploit a potential market that belongs exclusively to Take-Two", it argues against new cheats enabled in the source code which "are strictly prohibited under Take-Two’s terms of service". It goes further, complaining about modding which Take-Two say "encouraging users to further infringe the original Games and to violate their agreements with Take-Two that prohibit such activities".
As a result of the code being public, Take-Two are claiming it the "Defendants have caused and continue to cause irreparable harm".
Take-Two are looking to get damages paid which as of yet "are not currently ascertainable", so they want it to be worked out. On top of that they want the "maximum statutory damages of $150,000 for each work infringed" and they also want their "attorneys’ fees and full costs" paid as well.
The point about cheats is a funny one. Single-player games from the early 2000s have cheats added in? Extra modding too? Oh no, how completely terrible for people to further enjoy them.
Why was this lawsuit coming to be expected? Well, reverse-engineered code tends to be a grey area with it often being against the law, and code from leaks is a big no for all sorts of obvious legal reasons. That said, the source code did require people to actually buy the games for the data, so Take-Two would have still be getting revenue thanks to it.
Sadly though, like most major publishers, they shy away from any sort of open source. In this case, Take-Two and Rockstar are reportedly doing a big GTA Remastered Trilogy so moving to fully protect their code was obvious.
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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slaapliedje 20 Sep 2021
And that's exactly what it comes down to. Make a pretty game, hope some company dumps some cash onto you for an exclusive. Game doesn't even have to work right, as long as it's pretty...Exclusivity only happens because $Company pays $Publisher enough to not let others play their game. At least back in the day there was some sort of 'well this platform is more capable and that's why we published it there, as the experience of the game will be crap on other systems...' We no longer have that barrier at all!Nowadays the only excuse they should have for exclusives is if X company owns the studio, but they'll continue to do it as long as studios accept the deals.
Exclusivity deals are easy money now, while game itself might or might not be successful. You can't get all the money they say, so lets go a safe route... Zero-risks opportunity...
GustyGhost 20 Sep 2021
You know what's funny? The psychology behind that exclusivity is the same kind of psychology around why Flat-Earthers are a thing.
Very much has to do with "I know some secret knowledge that others do not." And there is that same thing of "I can play this game because I bought the 'superior' platform." Exclusivity only happens because $Company pays $Publisher enough to not let others play their game. At least back in the day there was some sort of 'well this platform is more capable and that's why we published it there, as the experience of the game will be crap on other systems...' We no longer have that barrier at all!
Psychology is a huge factor in that. I don't know the correct term although it is something like sunk-cost. Console gamers have entered into their position accepting the conditions of access which the owner of that platform allows. When those conditions change, they will feel cheated by their cult leader and react as we have seen.
And unfortunately for layfolk, when an exclusive situation has been established they will tend to misinterpret the excluded platforms as missing out because "well that platform must not be as capable".
Last edited by GustyGhost on 20 Sep 2021 at 8:22 pm UTC
ShabbyX 2 Dec 2021
Leonard French (copyright lawyer) finally said his word on the case: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIlfNSZM0Bg
What's the TL;DR?
Leonard French (copyright lawyer) finally said his word on the case: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIlfNSZM0Bg
What's the TL;DR?
Nothing much new, except there is good chance of good resolution of the case. People got a good lawyer and have some strategy.
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