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PayPalThe OpenTTD developers have released a statement to clarify some confusion and misinformation on the Transport Tycoon Deluxe re-release from Atari. As covered recently on GamingOnLinux, if you want to grab OpenTTD from GOG or Steam now, you have to actually buy the classic Transport Tycoon Deluxe. This does not affecting grabbing it from their website directly.
It's a bit of an unfortunate change for the long-time running free and open source game, which is based on Transport Tycoon Deluxe but is entirely free (including their own sounds and graphics). However, the OpenTTD developers appear to be quite happy with how the situation has gone overall.
The full statement provided by the OpenTTD developers:
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.I wanted to provide an update on the situation with OpenTTD on Steam and GOG, and what the Atari re-release of Transport Tycoon Deluxe means for OpenTTD. There has been a lot of speculation and, in some cases, misinformation spread about what has happened. Our initial announcement perhaps didn’t provide as much detail as we could have, but I want to reassure OpenTTD fans that we have not been “pressured” by Atari to make these changes.
Atari approached us to explain their plans for the Transport Tycoon Deluxe re-release, and what it might mean for OpenTTD. They are keen to work with us, and hope that the new release will be welcomed by the community who have been playing OpenTTD for the past 20+ years. We discussed these plans, and we understood that a compromise would be needed to balance Atari’s commercial interests (which of course they are entitled to pursue as the rights holder) against the availability of a free, well-developed evolution of the game. The decision was made that access to OpenTTD on these platforms would be conditional, for new players, on purchasing Transport Tycoon Deluxe first, while retaining the ability to download OpenTTD for free from our web site. Some have suggested that we should have chosen to remove OpenTTD from Steam and GOG entirely, but that would have caused unnecessary disruption to the many thousands of people currently enjoying the game on these platforms, and would have potentially prevented new players from discovering the game in future.
The OpenTTD project owes a lot - indeed, it owes everything - to Transport Tycoon Deluxe and to Chris Sawyer. Without TTD, there would be no OpenTTD - it’s as simple as that. As I covered in 2024, OpenTTD started off as a pretty much perfect clone of TTD, and though the game has evolved almost beyond belief since 2004, it is still rooted in the fundamentals of Transport Tycoon Deluxe. Agreeing to collaborate with Atari on their re-release not only enables you to go back and play the original game as it was in 1995, but helps to ensure OpenTTD remains a thriving project for years to come.
Additionally, as part of the discussions we held, Atari agreed to make a contribution towards the running costs of our server infrastructure. We are also extremely grateful for the many donations that have come in over the past few days from users - your support will help keep our services going, and it is deeply appreciated.
I understand that these changes have provoked strong feelings in the community, but I feel it important to emphasise that Atari have worked collaboratively with us, and that OpenTTD as a project retains its full independence. Even after reading this, you may still not agree with the choices that we’ve made, but I would please ask you to share your views respectfully. The Transport Tycoon community has been a source of joy in my own life for well over a quarter of a century, and it would be fantastic for us to be able to continue to enjoy these brilliant games well into the future.
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CharlieTheMadHatter 8 hours ago
(If this situation involved a certain Japanese company starting with N, OpenTTD would already be facing cease-and-desist letters.)
Atari monetizing a game that sat abandoned for 25 years while OpenTTD developers maintained it entirely for free, can be seen as capitalizing on community labor without compensation.
Also, don't forget that Atari has the legal power to shut down OpenTTD completely. Which is the real problem with game preservation: When an old game suddenly becomes valuable again, the company that owns it can take control and destroy the project that actually kept the game alive all those years.
Last edited by CharlieTheMadHatter on 20 Mar 2026 at 1:34 pm UTC
Quoting: CharlieTheMadHatterAlso, don't forget that Atari has the legal power to shut down OpenTTD completely.Do they? On what basis? I'm honestly curious, because this is a different game, and while the origin or the spiritual connection is obvious, there are so many games out there with clones that coexist. Just look at all the Minecraft-like games.
They don't owe jackshit to Atari.
It should be criminal to be able to buy the "rights" to a game that's more than 30 years old and start charging people for it just because you're a corporation that can afford to buy so-called Intellectual Property.
There also isn't a presumptive abandonment provision with a sensible duration to it, such as twenty years. There also isn't a provision like adverse possession in property law, where you lose the rights if someone openly uses your work but you don't enforce your rights.
And, lastly, the legal costs for enforcing or defending intellectual property cases is huge. There is no equivalent of "small claims court" that could provide an adjudication on the rights.
So much of US law has its roots in English civil law, especially property law, and its hoary fingers continue to grip legal precedent. Huge swaths of intellectual property law need to be revised, but as you can imagine, not only do experts disagree what that should look like, but moneyed interests prefer that things stay the same.
Quoting: NagezahnBecause it's not different game, it's based on IP they own.Quoting: CharlieTheMadHatterAlso, don't forget that Atari has the legal power to shut down OpenTTD completely.Do they? On what basis? I'm honestly curious, because this is a different game, and while the origin or the spiritual connection is obvious, there are so many games out there with clones that coexist. Just look at all the Minecraft-like games.
Geamandura 5 hours ago
Quoting: tarmo888As long as OpenTTD doesn't redistribute or monetize TTD or include code output from reverse engineering TTD binaries they are untouchable.Quoting: NagezahnBecause it's not different game, it's based on IP they own.Quoting: CharlieTheMadHatterAlso, don't forget that Atari has the legal power to shut down OpenTTD completely.Do they? On what basis? I'm honestly curious, because this is a different game, and while the origin or the spiritual connection is obvious, there are so many games out there with clones that coexist. Just look at all the Minecraft-like games.
Quoting: GeamanduraActually untouchable, or untouchable under the current US administration and court system?Quoting: tarmo888As long as OpenTTD doesn't redistribute or monetize TTD or include code output from reverse engineering TTD binaries they are untouchable.Quoting: NagezahnBecause it's not different game, it's based on IP they own.Quoting: CharlieTheMadHatterAlso, don't forget that Atari has the legal power to shut down OpenTTD completely.Do they? On what basis? I'm honestly curious, because this is a different game, and while the origin or the spiritual connection is obvious, there are so many games out there with clones that coexist. Just look at all the Minecraft-like games.
Because they seem to side with corporations an awful lot these days...
Probably better that everyone's playing nice.
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