Back in January, zombie writer Atari suffered the authorized ire of its past-life contractor Frontier Developments over unpaid royalties for 2004’s theme park sim RollerCoaster Tycoon 3.
There’s been no phrase as but of how that individual mud – alleged by gossip website TMZ to be value some $2.2m – settled, however I think many people would elevate an eyebrow or six if somebody instructed us that RT3’s sudden removing from Steam and GOG yesterday was merely a coincidence. But, nicely, it could be.
TMZ’s authentic report was large on melodrama (“You’ve taken us on a royalties roller coaster!!!”) and low on element or corroboration (“Frontier started to believe it was getting ripped off, claiming another website showed higher sales figures”), however Frontier later briefly confirmed to Eurogamer that that they had undertaken authorized motion over Atari’s alleged refusal to permit “our contractual right to audit.”
Four months later, Game Informer is alleging that the sudden removing of CurlerCoaster Tycoon Three from Steam is a direct consequence of this argy-bargy. However, no sources past the sooner TMZ piece got, and moreover the GI story mistakenly claims that mentioned piece was printed final week, versus 4 months beforehand. In different phrases, there may be, as but, no definitive proof obtainable that RT3’s delisting is a direct response to the royalties dispute.
CurlerCoaster Tycoon 3: Platinum does nonetheless have a Steam page, however the purchase button has disappeared with out, on the time of writing, any official rationalization. Over on GOG, nonetheless, the sport has additionally disappeared, however GOG employees put their heads above the parapet to claim that “Due to expiring licensing rights, we were asked to remove the product from our catalog for the time being. We’ll be in talks with new distribution rights holders to hopefully bring the game back as soon as possible.”
This type of factor does occur on a regular basis. We’ve just seen GTA IV have to exchange an enormous quantity of music attributable to expired licenses for songs on its authentic soundtrack, as an illustration. Waiting 4 months after the announcement of authorized motion earlier than delisting doesn’t fairly smack of hot-blooded spite, however equally it may indicate that some as-yet unannounced progress has been made within the court docket case.
If it is a licensing subject, it doesn’t seem to contain the general CurlerCoaster Tycoon model – Atari and collection creator Chris Sawyer signed a 3 yr license extension for that last summer. To that finish, the unique CurlerCoaster Tycoon, CurlerCoaster Tycoon 2 and 2017’s remastered effort CurlerCoaster Tycoon Classic are nonetheless available for purchase.
It’s the “new distribution rights holders” within the GOG assertion that grabs me most right here, seeming because it does to recommend somebody aside from Atari now calls the photographs on that individual recreation.
In quick: no person exterior of Atari or Frontier can say for positive what’s gone on right here, and proper now there isn’t a sure proof that the disappearance of RT3 is all the way down to January’s court docket case, as suspicious because it may appear. All we will say is that’s, proper now, should you’re jonesing for mid-noughties theme park administration, you would possibly want to attend some time. Alternatively, there’s Frontier’s personal 2016 non secular sequel Planet Coaster, which itself nearly actually prompted the forehead of no matter creature at the moment wears the pores and skin of Atari to furrow.
