I’m pretty bummed about this.
Phoenix Online Studios, a seven person indie game company, has been working on an unofficial sequel to theKing’s Questseries for eight years. In the vein of the recentSam & MaxandMonkey Islandgames,The Silver Liningwas going to be a 5-part episodic adventure game.
In 2005, after receiving a cease-and-desist notice from Vivendi (who owned the rights toKing’s Questafter they bought out Sierra), Phoenix Online worked out a deal where they were granted a non-commercial license from Vivendi, meaning they could continue work on the game. Some small changes were made (like removing “King’s Quest” from the title), but basically Vivendi was cool with the release of this fan-made game.
Then Vivendi was bought out by Activision. And, as they are legally allowed to do because they’re the new owners of the IP, Activision sent another cease-and-desist out, and officially killed the project. Eight years of work completely down the drain, after originally getting approval, for a game series that very likely will never see a new installment because most large game companies are unwilling to make new adventure games because they don’t make enough money.
Now, granted, maybe I’m being cynical. Maybe Activision has decided thatKing’s Questis a wonderful IP that should be revived, and maybe they’re working on a brand newKing’s Questgame. If that’s the case, then I suppose I understand the cease-and-desist. If they canceled it just for the sake of canceling and we’ll never see a newKing’s Questgame, they’re certainly allowed to do that, but they get a big thumbs down for it.
Back in 2005, Vivendi granted Phoenix Online the non-commercial license because of an outpouring of support and anger from the gaming community. Feel free to send similar letters of support for the gameto Activision. Assuming the project stays dead, I hope we seeThe Silver Liningin some form, even if it means removing all the references to theKQgames.
