https://metro.co.uk/2024/02/08/king-charles-owns-half-discworld-video-game-rights-20248365/

King Charles owns half the Discworld video game rights so a remaster is
up to him

GameCentralPublished Feb 8, 2024, 4:28pm|Updated Feb 9, 2024, 9:14am

A peculiarity of UK law means If there’s ever going to be a remaster of
the Discworld video games it needs the agreement of the Crown.

Many may not remember, but there were three different Discworld video
games released in the 90s, with Eric Idle voicing Rincewind the wizard
in the first two and other famous voice actors such as Rob Brydon, Jon
Pertwee, and Tony Robinson also involved.

Terry Pratchett was a fan of games and while he only had a limited input
on the trilogy, he did seem to approve of them. But after his death, and
the collapse of British developer Perfect Entertainment, the games were
largely forgotten and have never been re-released or remastered since.

It seems there are very specific reasons for that though: according to
British law, if the original rights holder has been defunct for more
than 10 years then 50% of the rights revert to the original creator and
50% to the Crown.

The writer and director for the first two games was Gregg Barnett, who
is now in possession of the half of the rights that don’t belong to King
Charles.

This has led to talks with, unnamed, publishers about re-releasing the
games (the original publisher was Psygnosis, which was bought by Sony
before any of the games were released, but that doesn’t seem to be an
issue when it comes to the rights).

‘There have been discussions and something may be happening down the
track – a re-release or a remaster. But it’s obviously a complicated
process when you’re dealing with the Crown,’ Barnett told website Time
Extension.

‘It may happen. And then it could advance to new versions of them. And
again, I said, I would like to do a new Discworld game,’ adds Barnett.

‘But beyond all of the stuff that may or may not happen [like] the old
versions, it’s just going to be hard to get the rights to do anything
new in the Discworld universe at the moment.’

He doesn’t go into detail of why that is, but if nothing else Eric Idle
is still working – he was on The Masked Singer in 2022 – so maybe the
band can get back together.

On Sun, 11 Feb 2024 15:19:52 +0100, kyonshi <gmkeros@gmail.com> wrote:

>https://metro.co.uk/2024/02/08/king-charles-owns-half-discworld-video-game-rights-20248365/
>
>King Charles owns half the Discworld video game rights so a remaster is
>up to him
>
>GameCentralPublished Feb 8, 2024, 4:28pm|Updated Feb 9, 2024, 9:14am
>
>
>A peculiarity of UK law means If there’s ever going to be a remaster of
>the Discworld video games it needs the agreement of the Crown.
>
>Many may not remember, but there were three different Discworld video
>games released in the 90s, with Eric Idle voicing Rincewind the wizard
>in the first two and other famous voice actors such as Rob Brydon, Jon
>Pertwee, and Tony Robinson also involved.

I never was a Pratchett fan, which is odd because I really /should/
be. I think his setting is just a bit too whimsical for me.

I vaguely remember the video games. Because I didn't have a real
attachment to the Discworld franchise, I had to appreciate them for
their gameplay alone. Honestly, they weren't that good. For one, they
expected you to have a good understanding of the setting, and did
little to introduce newcomers to the franchise. The puzzles (at least
as I recall them) were too often of the 'moon logic' sort (I think the
third was the worst of the three in that regard). And the overall feel
of the games was clumsy and amateur; it lacked the polish of better
regarded adventure games.

(I know these are superficial complaints, but it's been thirty years
and honestly I can't remember any specifics. It's all just vague
remembrances at this point.)

So the lack of any new adventure games doesn't really bother me; I
wasn't fond of them to begin with and don't yearn for new ones. Still,
I know the franchise is beloved by many. Still, it's not as if King
Charles himself is really the reason behind a sequel's absence; he
likely has no idea the rights reverted to him (or the institution of
the crown, anyway).

The fact that nobody has done the work necessary to buy the rights (or
however it works) is probably indicative more of the fact that it
wouldn't be a profitable usage of their time. People interested in a
remaster are a niche of a niche of a niche (Pratchett fans who like
adventure games who want to replay retro titles). There probably
aren't enough of those who'd buy the game and compensate the new
owners for their efforts.

But who knows; it might still happen and I won't complain if it does.
Maybe GOG will figure it out; I'll grab the games if they do.
Pratchett may not excite me, but I love me some old games. ;-P