MAMEWorld Forums - EmuChat - Re: Actually, back on this topic....

> > How could the publisher get an order on something they only had the rights to port?
>
> Given this was presumably for Midway (they published all
> the Spy Hunter ports and emulations that I'm aware of),
> they had full rights to the game.

Actually it wasn't Midway, to my knowledge they were completely oblivious to this whole mess. I'm not mentioning who the real culprits were for obvious reasons.

Licensing in this industry gets complex. In this particular case there were actually four separate publishers involved at various levels, with lots of contracting and subcontracting going on. Typically one company will own the intellectual property (Midway, in this case) but they only have a finite number of resources to market their products (don't forget it takes a lot of money to market things). Rather than just let the IP sit there and atrophy they'll typically license it externally to a smaller publisher for a fixed period of time e.g. a few years. They'll keep an eye on it to make sure the IP isn't being compromised in any way, but otherwise the licensee is the one who stands to make or lose money for the duration of the license. This is where you get a bit of big-dog/little-dog syndrome creeping in...the larger publishers like Midway/EA/Activision etc tend to have bigger fish to fry whereas these smaller publishers who have licensed these products feel like they're now playing with the big boys and therefore have something to prove.

> > Also, I'm surprised the developer (you) didn't withold
> > the *source of your information* in anticipation they
> > might fuckin hank the guy.

You would never, EVER do this. I've seen quite a few people bring this up, it would be a pretty risky and foolish thing to do. The contracts you sign are very explicit on the point about owning rights to the assets you deliver to the publisher. Had those sound files been watermarked in any way, and if it had become public knowledge and backfired on the publisher then we would have been liable. You tell the publisher where you got it and you let their legal team decide on it.

In practice it's never that straightforward anyway, you're often working quite closely with an external producer, employed by the publisher, who is constantly breathing down your neck. They don't have anything better to do and they need to be seen to be actively managing the project. So they're taking up a good hour or your time every day wanting details about pretty much everything. In short, the external producer often has a pretty good idea of what everyone is up to anyway, it very well could have been him who suggested we start looking at the fan sites in the first place.