Guys, stop asking how long it's going to take. Let's put it this way, Fallout Online was supposed to be released in 2007. Here we are in 2013 and it still has no official release date. This is what seems to happen with the legal rights to Black Isle games. Companies will have their legal fights and because of our screwed up legal system, we will have to wait. If you don't like waiting for games that are being fought for rights to then put in your voice towards governmental reformation.
Sorry, but this is seeming a lot like how interplay had it while bethesda kept pounding in the "WE ARE GAME CREATORS, HUR HUR!". Atari is to Beamdon&Overhaul as... Bethesda is to Interplay.
Haven't seen this posted in this forum yet by the way: Update: In a statement sent to Kotaku, Beamdog's Trent Oster has offered some more details about the game's takedown.
I can't offer much information as we are trying to work through the issues. We pulled the game in response to a request from Atari's legal representation. The issue affects our rights to both games. Atari continues to sell the game through their channels.
From our end, without the hope of revenue to cover salaries, we have to stop work on all Baldur's Gate products, including the patch. Instead, we need to look for new projects to move our team onto.
We do not have a specific date for when the game will be available again. Rest assured that we will find a way to bring Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition back, along with Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition.
the link above is to what I can find to be part of the legal documents regarding Atari's Bankruptcy. If you look down at Schedule C you'll not find anything D&D or Baldur's Gate / Black Isle listed within the IP's being sold.
I have to assume Atari doesn't own the rights to Baldur's Gate or anything else of that nature any more than BeamDog Does.
Digging farther I found the following description of Assets posted with the bankruptcy:
Scrolling down to question 14, Page 5, we get "Properties held for another Person"
NAME AND ADDRESS OF OWNER DESCRIPTION AND VALUE OF PROPERTY LOCATION OF PROPERTY Hasbro 1027 Newport Avenue Pawtucket, RI 02861 Value Unknown Source Code - Various Game Titles Server at Main Office 475 Park Avenue South New York, NY 10016
Given that Hasbro owns the rights to D&D through their Acquisition of Wizards of the Coast, I have GOT to assume this is where the Baldur's Gate franchise and the rest of these D&D games fall.
Sales of Atari's assets may not (will not?) solve the problem. With Atari still in control of the property on behalf of Hasbro they can't sell it, nor can anyone buy it (at least not as part of this bankruptcy).
What this legally means, I have no idea...but I can make a guess.
Either Hasbro needs to pass the rights from Atari to BeamDog (Probably can't due to agreements with Atari) or Atari needs to get out of bankruptcy so it can legally allow BeamDog to continue. The one thing I think this does show is that BeamDog has no possibility of buying the IP outright and producing these on their own...Atari doesn't own it to sell it.
So the 24th can come and go, no one else will own Baldur's Gate to allow BeamDog to continue writing the software. Whatever it is BeamDog legal is working on, it's not acquiring the IP (unless they're talking with Hasbro directly).
@cmk: Correct me if you know otherwise, but you can't sell distribution rights. The owner of a piece of property is the only one that can determine who can sell that property. The property owner can certainly designate someone other than themselves as legally allowed to sell that property, but the designee cannot then legally designate someone ELSE...they don't have that right.
There's nothing BG Related up for sale here with this Bankruptcy. I assume this is ENTIRELY about how BeamDog gets paid for the work they did. My assumption is that without the money going through Atari, BeamDog has no income for this game, and the money can no longer come through Atari (no creditor is guaranteed payment during bankruptcy) since the bankruptcy court and the oversight board, and not Atari, determines who gets paid and in what order. A small company like BeamDog would be pretty far down the list, and if Atari runs out of money before it's BeamDog's turn...well, they get nothing.
Steam is the only piece of this puzzle I don't understand. There's some implication to steam being able to continue selling the game while BeamDog was asked to take down their sales of it...and I'm not sure I like that implication.
I'd love for someone official to state whether or not BeamDog is seeing a cut of the steam sales or not...my suspicion is they're not and that's why Steam was continued to allow selling the game...
The property owner can certainly designate someone other than themselves as legally allowed to sell that property, but the designee cannot then legally designate someone ELSE...they don't have that right.
Yes you can if the person that was set up to be the distributor by the rights owners was set up as contact labor under taxes then they could then sub-contract that work out down the line. I found this out working this past Moore, OK tornado damage's cleanup. I was hired as a sub-sub-sub-contractor. There was the person that put forth the money to the city as a bid for the designated damaged areas. Then there was 4 contracting companies under him (becoming sub-contractors) that did the same thing that the contractor did and bidded it off to companies that actually did the work. My direct boss was one of them, who was a sub-sub-contractor, and made me a sub-sub-sub-contractor because I was the bottom of the food chain doing the manual labor.
P.S.: And like how the Atari/Beamdog deal is going, I had legal complications. Because my direct boss dropped my pay from $12/hr to $8/hr on my last check which he didn't give me until 3 weeks later. Yet, it is still legal, it's just "Who can hire the most expensive lawyer?" in court with it.
'lol' last time i quickly passed through these forums was mid june... before that was mid december.. i was quickly learning the good news of a new possible 'really enhanced' last patch that seemed to be very nice/polished/going ahead.. and now that (the legal issue stuff..and game/franchise totally on a halt?!) ! ... the final unexpected surprise du chef it seems..
and to add the fun to the irony of the whole (sad) thing, i just noticed the oh so bright and smart mr/mrs self-expert in shiny armor knight with blond & fair hairs 'mlnevese' (that was understanding & talking so well with a few buddies around there apparently..)) ) had been promoted moderator in the meanwhile and... had been employed to collect the last bugs! (before the final patch so!).... ! At least there is maybe some kind of humour all the same possible behind all that... i hope the clean initial shiny armor/nice hairs will not be too dusty after all those new/old bugs collected (and always not solved obviously) ... )
Funny irony to see at least! well, as for me..well, bad luck again then (but not vital, happilly^) ; maybe i will have the pleasure to really invest new time in the great game near december now.. oh so damn naive i certainly was to hope some new quick fixes for the summer after the lost december last time, apparently.
well&sigh.. so long. ^
ps: i hope some of the nice & funny lesbians/gays activists i also almost immediately noticed quickly all around there (too!) talking about the new all so important gender stuff (to add/improve/modify/actualize/etc ^), with authority voices... *// (talking a lot about those new greeeaat things to add to the games of course -everything apart testing & fixing the other maybe more urgent things apparently!^- ..at length.. )) ) will be put in charge to fix the new age/old 'romances' for the next bg2ee too now... will be fun to watch that too. All that so well beta tested and approved by the mlnevese & the likes of course..
ps2: well, good/bad jokes apart.. hoping the legal issues are not so impossible to fix though.. and good luck to the team behind BGEE1-2 that at least tried to believe in the thing (yes, i want to believe it too).. good luck to all..
I'm beginning to think it's kind of a good thing that I don't understand sunset00's posts, because I suspect if I did, I would find them offensive in some way.
It's going to be hard to remain optimistic. Right now it's the deafening silence that erodes at the soul, but it could get much worse once the silence is finally broken.
lol Adul .. yes, maybe a good thing sometimes... unfixed understandings can be useful too sometimes.. i guess..*)) no real pun intended though, don't be too hard on your bright self too ^.. just a little sadness for the -apparently- new current state of affairs for the game at least (the main interest here)..and again, good luck for the dev. team..time is money too.. and too many delays for BG2EE, not good too, i guess.. for them. i refuse to think there will be no BG2EE though..well, i hope not, now..
It's going to be hard to remain optimistic. Right now it's the deafening silence that erodes at the soul, but it could get much worse once the silence is finally broken.
On the contrary: even if the worst came to pass and BG2:EE never materializes, at least we'd know. It's the utter lack of disclosure I find most troubling, especially given recent rumors which place the blame for this situation at Beamdog's feet; at this point, I'm not entirely certain that I'd trust them again even if they do eventually work through whatever's going on. Pre-ordering is out of the question, at any rate.
It's the utter lack of disclosure I find most troubling, especially given recent rumors which place the blame for this situation at Beamdog's feet; at this point, I'm not entirely certain that I'd trust them again even if they do eventually work through whatever's going on.
I think I'm missing something. What do you mean by that?
I think I'm missing something. What do you mean by that?
There are (admittedly unconfirmed) reports that the current situation was caused by Beamdog failing to pay due royalties to Atari, hence the latter's "takeover" of distribution via Steam.
If this is true, it was never about the bankruptcy or the auction of assets, yet the devs were content to let everyone believe Atari was at fault and that they themselves were blameless. Hardly the sort of behavior that encourages trust on the part of the consumer.
I think I'm missing something. What do you mean by that?
Edit courtesy of Dee
There's one (unconfirmed, unquoted) source claimingare (admittedly unconfirmed) reports that the current situation was caused by Beamdog failing to pay due royalties to Atari, hence the latter's "takeover" of distribution via Steam.
We can't say anything about the current situation, but let's at least be accurate in our wild speculations, eh?
@shawne - I find the Steam sales to be disturbing. It feels like a last ditch effort to raise some cash, and given Atari's current state it's easy to see why they might try to do anything to raise some cash.
I think I'm missing something. What do you mean by that?
Edit courtesy of Dee
There's one (unconfirmed, unquoted) source claimingare (admittedly unconfirmed) reports that the current situation was caused by Beamdog failing to pay due royalties to Atari, hence the latter's "takeover" of distribution via Steam.
We can't say anything about the current situation, but let's at least be accurate in our wild speculations, eh?
You forgot its an unconfirmed, unquoted "industry" source.
@Dee: That the devs have done nothing to curb said wild speculation is, in my eyes, all the more damning. Instead of defaulting to "no comment" for over a month, you should be looking into what you can say, and saying it. Beamdog was never an exemplar of communication and transparency, but if there were ever a time to start, it's now.
The thing is, saying anything at all about it can cause harm to any negotiations that may be on-going. There's a reason that no one from Atari or Beamdog has said anything at all about the situation beyond "We're doing what we can to get the matter resolved."
As I said when the article was first posted, we can't say whether it's true or not (or if it is true whether there are other factors involved). I know that it sucks for anyone who may be reconsidering their trust of us as a company--and believe me, it sucks even more for us--but that doesn't change the situation, or what we have to do on our end to make sure that it goes as smoothly as possible.
@shawne and the rest looking at laying the blame at the feet of Beamdog:
Lets look for a second at some facts surrounding the rumor:
Google Search: "atari sues beamdog" - Nothing here Google Search: "beamdog owes atari" - Hey look hits! Except all of these hits use the EXACT same text and almost all of them are from a comments section. Google Search: "atari lawsuit beamdog" - Nope, no legal action here. Google Search: "atari court beamdog" - Nothing here either.
As a matter of fact the ONLY post in the whole bunch talking about a lawsuit between atari and beamdog is from one uninformed comment where a poster seems to think that atari sued beamdog to get them to stop selling the game (which as we all know is false).
But, really, i'm sure if BeamDog owed Atari for their sales of this game that there would be no court proceedings, no legal documents, and no mention of it anywhere...after all, Atari is ONLY in bankruptcy court looking at non-existance (at least the American Branch of Atari)...they've got no reason at all to want paid by BeamDog right?
(in case any of you missed it the above is pure sarcasm...if Atari was owed by BeamDog and that were the reason for the takedown, there would be open court cases, BeamDog would be listed in the Atari Bankruptcy documents as a debtor to the company, and more than just a single "news" source with no attribution to where the story comes from would be identified. Would I rule this out completely? Of course not, but is this LIKELY to be the problem? Not really.)
As to the lack of information. What do you want them to say? There's a legal proceeding happening and everything BUT a court order directing BeamDog to take down their sales of the software...you really believe it is a PRUDENT action for a company to go onto the open internet and reveal details about the legal proceeding to the general public? You know what you need to know, but in case you haven't put two and two together let me make sure this is clear:
* Atari directed BeamDog to take down their sales of the software. Why and how are definitely good questions, but not ones we have answers to since the "request" was honored without legal proceedings following.
* BeamDog is the distributor for BG:EE through the Apple Store and through the BeamDog sales method. That means the revenue from the sales of the software comes to BeamDog first through these means and then to the other rights holders.
* Atari is the distributor for BG:EE (and BG Classic) through Steam and GoG. Revenue from sales of games through those distribution points goes directly to Atari who then must pay the other rights holders.
* With ALL of BeamDog's distribution points taken offline and only Atari's distribution points active, and Atari in Bankruptcy, there would seem to be no way for ANY money to reach BeamDog...any money made by Atari's Distribution points will go into the Legal Bankruptcy Black Hole...and BeamDog isn't even allowed to sue for it since all legal proceedings are stopped during a Bankruptcy.
It's no wonder, then, why they've stopped developing anything related to this game...they have no way to get paid for it...and no legal way to fight that payment either.
What your asking for (transparency, more communication from the developers in regards to what's upcoming, etc.) is impossible.
* I'm pretty sure anyone who knows anything at BeamDog is now under legal non-disclosure with regard to anything pertaining to the Atari bankruptcy and any issues between Atari and BeamDog. Providing you with any information may actually be ILLEGAL.
* It's unlikely that anyone at BeamDog/Overhall from Trent on Downward could predict what can/will happen. There may be a crapload of speculation and a crapload of "this could happen, we'd like to see this, we're trying that", but none of that is real information. It isn't helpful and it could DEFINITELY be harmful to an existing legal matter as it would give Atari the opportunity to move to BLOCK any pathways that might be opened.
Keep in mind the only company making any money off of this right now is NOT the company that produced it. THAT smells bad. If you want to figure out who the bad guy is in any legal proceeding, look for the one who's making the most money off of the proceeding and you've got the culprit. Atari has no incentive to allow BeamDog back into the cookie jar...it works ONLY to Atari's advantage if the only way to get BG or BG:EE is to pay Atari Directly for those games. If you're looking to point fingers, I highly recommend pointing them at the only winners in the game at this point.
You're right, there very well MAY be truth to the rumor, but I would expect if there was it would be more than a rumor touted by a single source without any kind of attribution...especially since we're talking money between BeamDog and a company going BANKRUPT...if any significant sum of money were owed, I would expect the Court to be involved with trying to GET it from BeamDog...and that would mean someone would be suing...which would turn up on some court docket somewhere.
There appears to be one of two possibilities in play.
One. There is a legal confidentiality agreement in place.
"Non-disclosure agreement; a contract whereby one promises to treat information confidentially and not give out information without proper authorization."
That means no answer shall be forthcoming until the embargo has been lifted. You can ask the same question over, and over again. You can paraphrase the question in a different light. You can hold your breath and stomp your feet until your face turns blue. You succeed only in making yourself look silly, whilst frustrating the folks attempting to supply information if and when it becomes available. The answer cannot change until such an agreement has passed. And no one is obliged to continue responding with a tiresome "no comment" to each and every grumble from a disgruntled onlooker.
Two. There has simply been no change in any pending outcome. The rights have not been auctioned off. No agreement has been reached to grant Beamdog a slice of the cake once again. And no one is obliged to continue responding with a tiresome "nothing has changed" to each and every disgruntled onlooker.
It has already been made clear that as soon as any new information is available, and it is not constrained by legalities, it shall be passed on. It has already been made clear that once an outcome has been achieved, it shall be passed on. Have a little patience. Or at worst, reach down the back of the sofa and you'll probably find in loose change an amount close to that which it cost to purchase the game.
Honestly. Play a different video game. Read a book. Watch that box set you've been meaning to get around to. It's not that difficult to pass the time, nor understand the circumstances.
Anyway. That's my two cents on the state of play. I'm off to play a different video game and await any update on the situation. You'd think I was Einstein!
The Developers are under NDA about anything concerning the contracts, sales and agreements. They have explained that many times since the EE project started.
I have no doubt we'll learn something as soon as it's available.
Look, lets put it this way. BeamDog is no longer selling the software. That's NOT in their best interest. Every developer who works on software wants to see their software in use...they can't be happy about the current state of things.
Every business/corporation exists to make money for itself...BeamDog is not making money at this point (as has been stated several times)...BeamDog/Overhaul the corporation can't be happy about the current state of things.
@TrentOster, the head of Overhaul, and the business and legal folks came out of the woodwork, started a studio and went through the pain and agony of obtaining the rights to re-produce Baldur's Gate then setup all of the architecture surrounding the distribution of that product. They spent a lot of money and a lot of time to do all this and they aren't able to actually DISTRIBUTE the game...Trent and company cannot be happy about the current state of things.
No matter where you look or who you turn to involved with the production of and development of this game, not one of them has any right or reason to be happy with the current state of things. No one at BeamDog/Overhaul games has any reason to perpetuate this situation a nano-second longer than it has to be perpetuated...no one there is gaining anything by this situation continuing.
That means as soon as it's possible to correct this situation, it will be corrected. And as soon as it's corrected its in EVERYONE's best interest to inform the community and get us all back buying the game and downloading the patches...because that will get BG2:EE and their sales engine back on track.
Providing everyone more information and keeping us abrest of what's going on is a win-win situation for Overhaul and Us, if they're not doing it, there's a good reason why...and to follow on that logic, as soon as it's feasibly possible, they'll communicate as best they can.
Comments
Atari is to Beamdon&Overhaul as...
Bethesda is to Interplay.
Haven't seen this posted in this forum yet by the way:
Update: In a statement sent to Kotaku, Beamdog's Trent Oster has offered some more details about the game's takedown.
I can't offer much information as we are trying to work through the issues. We pulled the game in response to a request from Atari's legal representation. The issue affects our rights to both games. Atari continues to sell the game through their channels.
From our end, without the hope of revenue to cover salaries, we have to stop work on all Baldur's Gate products, including the patch. Instead, we need to look for new projects to move our team onto.
source: http://kotaku.com/baldurs-gate-enhanced-edition-pulled-from-app-store-b-514496494
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=7&ved=0CFMQFjAG&url=http://bmcgroup.com/restructuring/DocView.aspx?ClientID=316&DocNumber=260&CaseNo=1-13-bk-10176&ei=5svtUem6Bo7m8gTx8oG4CQ&usg=AFQjCNFZO014VNIetssQgt9QGVMBoXoA7Q&sig2=-y8YXMDamufGOeMyyV3nFA&bvm=bv.49478099,d.eWU&cad=rja
(If the above link does not work, go to http://www.bmcgroup.com/restructuring/geninfo.aspx?ClientID=316, scroll down till "Court Docket" and search the court docket for docket number 260)
the link above is to what I can find to be part of the legal documents regarding Atari's Bankruptcy. If you look down at Schedule C you'll not find anything D&D or Baldur's Gate / Black Isle listed within the IP's being sold.
I have to assume Atari doesn't own the rights to Baldur's Gate or anything else of that nature any more than BeamDog Does.
Digging farther I found the following description of Assets posted with the bankruptcy:
http://docs.bmcgroup.com/Atari/docs/316_D31599_Dkt116_SofaAtari,Inc.pdf
Scrolling down to question 14, Page 5, we get "Properties held for another Person"
NAME AND ADDRESS OF OWNER DESCRIPTION AND VALUE OF PROPERTY LOCATION OF PROPERTY
Hasbro
1027 Newport Avenue
Pawtucket, RI 02861
Value Unknown
Source Code - Various Game Titles
Server at Main Office
475 Park Avenue South
New York, NY 10016
Given that Hasbro owns the rights to D&D through their Acquisition of Wizards of the Coast, I have GOT to assume this is where the Baldur's Gate franchise and the rest of these D&D games fall.
Sales of Atari's assets may not (will not?) solve the problem. With Atari still in control of the property on behalf of Hasbro they can't sell it, nor can anyone buy it (at least not as part of this bankruptcy).
What this legally means, I have no idea...but I can make a guess.
Either Hasbro needs to pass the rights from Atari to BeamDog (Probably can't due to agreements with Atari) or Atari needs to get out of bankruptcy so it can legally allow BeamDog to continue. The one thing I think this does show is that BeamDog has no possibility of buying the IP outright and producing these on their own...Atari doesn't own it to sell it.
So the 24th can come and go, no one else will own Baldur's Gate to allow BeamDog to continue writing the software. Whatever it is BeamDog legal is working on, it's not acquiring the IP (unless they're talking with Hasbro directly).
--Illydth
There is also some useful information in this thread: http://forum.baldursgate.com/discussion/19502/pricetag-of-bg-ip
There's nothing BG Related up for sale here with this Bankruptcy. I assume this is ENTIRELY about how BeamDog gets paid for the work they did. My assumption is that without the money going through Atari, BeamDog has no income for this game, and the money can no longer come through Atari (no creditor is guaranteed payment during bankruptcy) since the bankruptcy court and the oversight board, and not Atari, determines who gets paid and in what order. A small company like BeamDog would be pretty far down the list, and if Atari runs out of money before it's BeamDog's turn...well, they get nothing.
Steam is the only piece of this puzzle I don't understand. There's some implication to steam being able to continue selling the game while BeamDog was asked to take down their sales of it...and I'm not sure I like that implication.
I'd love for someone official to state whether or not BeamDog is seeing a cut of the steam sales or not...my suspicion is they're not and that's why Steam was continued to allow selling the game...
P.S.: And like how the Atari/Beamdog deal is going, I had legal complications. Because my direct boss dropped my pay from $12/hr to $8/hr on my last check which he didn't give me until 3 weeks later. Yet, it is still legal, it's just "Who can hire the most expensive lawyer?" in court with it.
Come on people, just level with me. If it isn't, fine. I'll uninstall and just sign it off as a loss, then play BG2 and Planescape through again.
last time i quickly passed through these forums was mid june... before that was mid december.. i was quickly learning the good news of a new possible 'really enhanced' last patch that seemed to be very nice/polished/going ahead.. and now that (the legal issue stuff..and game/franchise totally on a halt?!) ! ... the final unexpected surprise du chef it seems..
and to add the fun to the irony of the whole (sad) thing, i just noticed the oh so bright and smart mr/mrs self-expert in shiny armor knight with blond & fair hairs 'mlnevese' (that was understanding & talking so well with a few buddies around there apparently..)) ) had been promoted moderator in the meanwhile and... had been employed to collect the last bugs! (before the final patch so!).... ! At least there is maybe some kind of humour all the same possible behind all that... i hope the clean initial shiny armor/nice hairs will not be too dusty after all those new/old bugs collected (and always not solved obviously) ...
Funny irony to see at least!
well, as for me..well, bad luck again then (but not vital, happilly^) ; maybe i will have the pleasure to really invest new time in the great game near december now.. oh so damn naive i certainly was to hope some new quick fixes for the summer after the lost december last time, apparently.
well&sigh.. so long. ^
ps:
i hope some of the nice & funny lesbians/gays activists i also almost immediately noticed quickly all around there (too!) talking about the new all so important gender stuff (to add/improve/modify/actualize/etc ^), with authority voices... *// (talking a lot about those new greeeaat things to add to the games of course -everything apart testing & fixing the other maybe more urgent things apparently!^- ..at length.. )) ) will be put in charge to fix the new age/old 'romances' for the next bg2ee too now... will be fun to watch that too. All that so well beta tested and approved by the mlnevese & the likes of course..
ps2:
well, good/bad jokes apart.. hoping the legal issues are not so impossible to fix though.. and good luck to the team behind BGEE1-2 that at least tried to believe in the thing (yes, i want to believe it too).. good luck to all..
If this is true, it was never about the bankruptcy or the auction of assets, yet the devs were content to let everyone believe Atari was at fault and that they themselves were blameless. Hardly the sort of behavior that encourages trust on the part of the consumer.
As I said when the article was first posted, we can't say whether it's true or not (or if it is true whether there are other factors involved). I know that it sucks for anyone who may be reconsidering their trust of us as a company--and believe me, it sucks even more for us--but that doesn't change the situation, or what we have to do on our end to make sure that it goes as smoothly as possible.
Lets look for a second at some facts surrounding the rumor:
Google Search: "atari sues beamdog" - Nothing here
Google Search: "beamdog owes atari" - Hey look hits! Except all of these hits use the EXACT same text and almost all of them are from a comments section.
Google Search: "atari lawsuit beamdog" - Nope, no legal action here.
Google Search: "atari court beamdog" - Nothing here either.
As a matter of fact the ONLY post in the whole bunch talking about a lawsuit between atari and beamdog is from one uninformed comment where a poster seems to think that atari sued beamdog to get them to stop selling the game (which as we all know is false).
But, really, i'm sure if BeamDog owed Atari for their sales of this game that there would be no court proceedings, no legal documents, and no mention of it anywhere...after all, Atari is ONLY in bankruptcy court looking at non-existance (at least the American Branch of Atari)...they've got no reason at all to want paid by BeamDog right?
(in case any of you missed it the above is pure sarcasm...if Atari was owed by BeamDog and that were the reason for the takedown, there would be open court cases, BeamDog would be listed in the Atari Bankruptcy documents as a debtor to the company, and more than just a single "news" source with no attribution to where the story comes from would be identified. Would I rule this out completely? Of course not, but is this LIKELY to be the problem? Not really.)
As to the lack of information. What do you want them to say? There's a legal proceeding happening and everything BUT a court order directing BeamDog to take down their sales of the software...you really believe it is a PRUDENT action for a company to go onto the open internet and reveal details about the legal proceeding to the general public? You know what you need to know, but in case you haven't put two and two together let me make sure this is clear:
* Atari directed BeamDog to take down their sales of the software. Why and how are definitely good questions, but not ones we have answers to since the "request" was honored without legal proceedings following.
* BeamDog is the distributor for BG:EE through the Apple Store and through the BeamDog sales method. That means the revenue from the sales of the software comes to BeamDog first through these means and then to the other rights holders.
* Atari is the distributor for BG:EE (and BG Classic) through Steam and GoG. Revenue from sales of games through those distribution points goes directly to Atari who then must pay the other rights holders.
* With ALL of BeamDog's distribution points taken offline and only Atari's distribution points active, and Atari in Bankruptcy, there would seem to be no way for ANY money to reach BeamDog...any money made by Atari's Distribution points will go into the Legal Bankruptcy Black Hole...and BeamDog isn't even allowed to sue for it since all legal proceedings are stopped during a Bankruptcy.
It's no wonder, then, why they've stopped developing anything related to this game...they have no way to get paid for it...and no legal way to fight that payment either.
What your asking for (transparency, more communication from the developers in regards to what's upcoming, etc.) is impossible.
* I'm pretty sure anyone who knows anything at BeamDog is now under legal non-disclosure with regard to anything pertaining to the Atari bankruptcy and any issues between Atari and BeamDog. Providing you with any information may actually be ILLEGAL.
* It's unlikely that anyone at BeamDog/Overhall from Trent on Downward could predict what can/will happen. There may be a crapload of speculation and a crapload of "this could happen, we'd like to see this, we're trying that", but none of that is real information. It isn't helpful and it could DEFINITELY be harmful to an existing legal matter as it would give Atari the opportunity to move to BLOCK any pathways that might be opened.
Keep in mind the only company making any money off of this right now is NOT the company that produced it. THAT smells bad. If you want to figure out who the bad guy is in any legal proceeding, look for the one who's making the most money off of the proceeding and you've got the culprit. Atari has no incentive to allow BeamDog back into the cookie jar...it works ONLY to Atari's advantage if the only way to get BG or BG:EE is to pay Atari Directly for those games. If you're looking to point fingers, I highly recommend pointing them at the only winners in the game at this point.
You're right, there very well MAY be truth to the rumor, but I would expect if there was it would be more than a rumor touted by a single source without any kind of attribution...especially since we're talking money between BeamDog and a company going BANKRUPT...if any significant sum of money were owed, I would expect the Court to be involved with trying to GET it from BeamDog...and that would mean someone would be suing...which would turn up on some court docket somewhere.
--Illydth
One. There is a legal confidentiality agreement in place.
"Non-disclosure agreement; a contract whereby one promises to treat information confidentially and not give out information without proper authorization."
That means no answer shall be forthcoming until the embargo has been lifted. You can ask the same question over, and over again. You can paraphrase the question in a different light. You can hold your breath and stomp your feet until your face turns blue. You succeed only in making yourself look silly, whilst frustrating the folks attempting to supply information if and when it becomes available. The answer cannot change until such an agreement has passed. And no one is obliged to continue responding with a tiresome "no comment" to each and every grumble from a disgruntled onlooker.
Two. There has simply been no change in any pending outcome. The rights have not been auctioned off. No agreement has been reached to grant Beamdog a slice of the cake once again. And no one is obliged to continue responding with a tiresome "nothing has changed" to each and every disgruntled onlooker.
It has already been made clear that as soon as any new information is available, and it is not constrained by legalities, it shall be passed on. It has already been made clear that once an outcome has been achieved, it shall be passed on. Have a little patience. Or at worst, reach down the back of the sofa and you'll probably find in loose change an amount close to that which it cost to purchase the game.
Honestly. Play a different video game. Read a book. Watch that box set you've been meaning to get around to. It's not that difficult to pass the time, nor understand the circumstances.
Anyway. That's my two cents on the state of play. I'm off to play a different video game and await any update on the situation. You'd think I was Einstein!
Look, lets put it this way. BeamDog is no longer selling the software. That's NOT in their best interest. Every developer who works on software wants to see their software in use...they can't be happy about the current state of things.
Every business/corporation exists to make money for itself...BeamDog is not making money at this point (as has been stated several times)...BeamDog/Overhaul the corporation can't be happy about the current state of things.
@TrentOster, the head of Overhaul, and the business and legal folks came out of the woodwork, started a studio and went through the pain and agony of obtaining the rights to re-produce Baldur's Gate then setup all of the architecture surrounding the distribution of that product. They spent a lot of money and a lot of time to do all this and they aren't able to actually DISTRIBUTE the game...Trent and company cannot be happy about the current state of things.
No matter where you look or who you turn to involved with the production of and development of this game, not one of them has any right or reason to be happy with the current state of things. No one at BeamDog/Overhaul games has any reason to perpetuate this situation a nano-second longer than it has to be perpetuated...no one there is gaining anything by this situation continuing.
That means as soon as it's possible to correct this situation, it will be corrected. And as soon as it's corrected its in EVERYONE's best interest to inform the community and get us all back buying the game and downloading the patches...because that will get BG2:EE and their sales engine back on track.
Providing everyone more information and keeping us abrest of what's going on is a win-win situation for Overhaul and Us, if they're not doing it, there's a good reason why...and to follow on that logic, as soon as it's feasibly possible, they'll communicate as best they can.