Atari BANKRUPTCY

I saw this on facebook to be honest, but there are no posts here about it so I'll just make one.

time to buy up the rights to TA before someone else does?

source http://chapter11cases.com/atari-u-s...n-effort-to-split-from-french-parent-company/

http://phys.org/news/2013-01-atari-bankruptcy-parent.html


http://www.engadget.com/2013/01/21/atari-chapter-11-bankruptcy/

I don't know if this is a good idea. Could UberEnt afford to make such a purchase, if it came up? And, If so, what would they do with it?

Not saying UberEnt are financially strapped, but still.

They should buy it and then kickstart for a refund on the purchase xD

I would totally put in to a KS campaign to buy the TA IP.

"kickstarter campaign to buy the license... the community bought the ta license.."

Whats the point of having that license?

I think Planetary Annihilation is a better name for this game than Total Annihilation 2.

So?!

Agreed.

But I wonder: what assets does an IP contain except the title? Are there patents involved?

I sometimes question myself why some publishers buy an multi-million dollar IP when they could create a similar product with a different name.

Or specifically: why there's no spiritual successor to Homeworld with a different name, since nobody knows who owns the IP. Wait - don't tell me Sword of the Stars is supposed to be that.

Totaller Annihilation.

In the past, IPs have gone from the tens of thousands to the millions, so even a kickstarter might have trouble there.

Plus: IPs are not just the title, but also the concept behind the game.
There are no "patents" as such, unless some new technology is created for the title and the patents registered.

But to what extent is that concept protected? I mean, Supreme Commander is proof that the title itself isn't essential and it pretty much has the same concept except for the lore - which was more a sideshow compared to the gameplay.

Core and Arm would be part of the TA IP, as would the name Total Annihilation. Krogoth, D-Gun, and names made up specifically to be used would be protected.

Some of the more airy-fairy things that might be protected are likeness, and the backstory. If you make something that is clearly the Core Commmander, but called an ACU isn't going get past the lawyers.

"Mario" sells better than "Jumpman", but that's basically it. You'd be able to reach a wider audience with the name, but in the end I don't think there's much to gain considering how old the title is.

I wonder how much better the game would sell just because of a single word in the title.
PA probably speaks out to everyone who ever liked TA anyway, I mean any news-article that presented PA probably wrote something like "inspired by TA".

It's not "a word". It's 15 years of good experiences. In order for people who enjoy TA to enjoy PA, they need to invest enough time to read somewhere that PA is based on TA.

But if you just market it as TA directly, suddenly you'll reach all those people who played TA and would enjoy PA but, for whatever reason, never take the time to look into it.

It's basic marketing.

Well Planetary Annihilation sounds kinda like Total Annihilation. In fact it sounds so much like it that it could very well be part of the IP xD.
If you look at the concept-video it so extremely reminds of TA that anyone who has good memories of TA will know what this is about. Also fans of TA know very well that the IP is somewhere in deep hibernation and that SupCom was named SupCom because of it.

atari wernt bothered by the similaritys with sup com and TA and a comment i remember about PA to a question which was something like are you worryed about legal action was that "well they didnt complain about sup com" . What if who ever buys TA does want to make an issue they could put pressure on Uber to change things and make it less similar and caurse extra costs and bumps in the road, prob a small chance and I dont know if its possible for them but yea could be a issue in my mind and so a worth while reason to snap up the TA name

It's actually not the original Atari, I forget what the company was before it bought the rights to the Atari brand. Personally the only thing that I think kept them afloat so long was Roller Coaster Tycoon, then with all the lawsuits (Them holding back what was owed to chris sawyer and more) they lost it. Then they decided finally to come out with a new roller coaster game after so many years the community kept RCT 3 alive and we got an app. haha an app, and they wonder why it didn't sell well.

I hope (if they still have the license) for RCT franchise a good company picks it up and makes a new one. To this day RCT3 sells at retailers, but now the numbers are so minimal, it's time for a new one. I loved that series.

I guarantee you Roller Coaster Tycoon will fall into the hands of some giant publisher. They will call the next one "Roller Coaster Tycoon" and disregard any convention of naming sequels. It will be made free-to-play and you will be charged for a sh!t-ton of pay-to-download crapola. It will require Facebook and Twitter integration so other people can "like" the new ride you built. It will also be a completely online-only experience, where other people will be able to 'visit' your parks.

And people will gobble it up and spend loads of money. And we will have to be content with smaller companies making things that are awesome, because they are awesome.

well its different between a name of a character or a original name, which inherits the same feeling as the original. "Jumpman" sounds quite generic and general. So I guess a better compare would be another character name, but I guess everyone knows what you mean and I agree, half.

The thing about basic marketing, it's all about return on investment. If they spend $500 000 on the license and IP, but it only gains them 5 000 more units sold than it is bad marketing. Personally I can't think of any other games that used Annihilation as part of the name, so already the link is made for me to Total Annihilation. A quick look at the art style and concept quickly reveals pretty much what I would expect from an RTS. So I'd have to say that forking over money for the Total Annihilation IP would be a waste.

I can't really see what they could really gain from it aside from preventing copyright trolls, and given the publicity and and lack of action from Atari I don't think there's much Uber needs to fear.