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Why would they have to do that? What does Realm Beyond have to do with Demons Age?!Could it be that they rushed the game out trying to establish copyright before Realms Beyond was announced (and sued them)?
Could it be that they rushed the game out trying to establish copyright before Realms Beyond was announced (and sued them)?
Establish copyright in what way, specifically? Ip? Assets?Could it be that they rushed the game out trying to establish copyright before Realms Beyond was announced (and sued them)?
Would you have a tl;dr for this poor retard?Could it be that they rushed the game out trying to establish copyright before Realms Beyond was announced (and sued them)?
Announcement: Store Page
As you might have already noticed, Demons Age’s store page has been removed from Steam due to a DMCA claim. The claim has been made by a company unbeknownst to us, stating that “Demons Age” uses assets from “Chaos Chronicles”. That is indeed true, since part of our team worked on the development of “Chaos Chronicles” project, back in 2014, and under an agreement signed in July 8th of the same year, a part of the payment to Bigmoon Studios included assets of “Chaos Chronicles”. Everything perfectly legal.
We’ve already provided that information to those entitled and we just need to wait for their acknowledgement. Unfortunately, due to the holiday season, the store will not be restored in 2017, but it should be available in early January.
As far as we know, Bigmoon holds all the necessary rights, however, if we have received and used an asset that, for any reason, unknown to us, shouldn't have been used, we expect this to be clarified soon and we have the team ready to create new assets and replace them in the game. What we would like to ensure our gamers is that the game will return to sales as soon as we get the clearance and in the meantime we’ll keep developing the new patch to support our community, fixing what is necessary to fix and adding the content we already promised.
For those of you who already have the game, do keep enjoying it. We value your meaningful feedback and input. If you need assistance, please send us an email to support@bigmoonstudios.com. We will be enjoying some short holidays here, but we will do our best to keep supporting the community.
Explanations aside, we’d like to apologize for the inconvenience this might cause to those that wished to buy the game.
The Bigmoon Team wishes everyone a Merry Christmas and a peaceful New Years Eve!
That is indeed true, since part of our team worked on the development of “Chaos Chronicles” project, back in 2014
Answering your question regarding CC. There is no direct relation, but I believe I can explain part of the confusion…
Back in 2011, Bigmoon Studios was developing a mobile/PC game based on the classic Commodore Amiga "North & South" (game remake) for the former publisher "bitComposer".
Meantime the former developer "Coreplay" was also developing "Jagged Alliance" remake of series to "bitComposer" too.
Both companies were working to the same publisher but we didn't know each other.
By the end of 2011, after we successfully delivery "North & South", bitComposer invited us to develop "Jagged Alliance: Back in Action" to Linux and Mac instead of inviting "CorePlay". We got the information that they wanted us to develop this port because they'd started to have some disagreements between them.
After we successfully delivered "Jagged Alliance: Back in Action", they requested us to develop another game (not "Chaos Chronicles", but based on "Chaos Chronicles") because they told us that "Coreplay" had closed and they wanted us to reboot the project with a different brand. (A new name here. "CC" also the initials, though I don't know if it became public).
However, during 2014, "bitComposer" also entered into insolvency and we stayed "alone", with this project child in our arms and with bills yet to receive… Because we liked what we were doing, we negotiated some assets as ways of bitComposer settling the debts they had with us and we started our own game - "DEMONS AGE".
A new story, a new programming, new concept, etc… but many initial principles shared by the same publisher.
And that's it. We never had any contact with "Coreplay" but we did share the same publisher for a period. We're launching a distinct game. 100% of the storyline, the audio, the level design, the code, etc… was made here.
Establish copyright in what way, specifically? Ip? Assets?Could it be that they rushed the game out trying to establish copyright before Realms Beyond was announced (and sued them)?
However, during 2014, "bitComposer" also entered into insolvency and we stayed "alone", with this project child in our arms and with bills yet to receive… Because we liked what we were doing, we negotiated some assets as ways of bitComposer settling the debts they had with us and we started our own game - "DEMONS AGE".
A new story, a new programming, new concept, etc… but many initial principles shared by the same publisher.
And that's it. We never had any contact with "Coreplay" but we did share the same publisher for a period. We're launching a distinct game. 100% of the storyline, the audio, the level design, the code, etc… was made here.
Plagiarism is not competition.Let Demons Age live, don't be quarrelsome
Competition should be considered beneficial, don't fight it
Bigmoon did get graphical assets and rights back in 2014. We have since then been developing Demons Age.
We did get a DMCA report by a recently created company. They allege they have the rights to those assets as well.
Bigmoon is left with two options:
1- To pass the dispute on to court(s). Each company would then have to present the proof regarding ownership of said assets and discuss who's entitled what.
2- To shrug this off and simply replace the remaining assets.
Despite having all the necessary documentation on our side, option 1 could postpone a final solution to this matter for quite a few months/years. Dragging this situation has never been in our interest. Given that work was already under way into adding more content to the game, we voluntarily decided, out of respect to our players, to replace said assets as part of the new patch and move on. We shall be releasing more content and a graphical overhaul on the game a few months from now. In the meantime, keep enjoying the game and feel free to send us any feedback. We apologize for any inconvenience this might bring our players and we thank you for your continuous support.
Despite having all the necessary documentation on our side...
It is company from Portugal.Did they know about this? Aren't they sitting somewhere in South America and got the job and assets from the publisher?