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Copyright Self Censorship Denies Us Another Updated Version Of An Abandoned Game
from the worst-outcome-ever dept
And here we go again. We have been talking about both the concept of video game preservation being lost to the copyright gods, as well as how copyright often prevents fan-made creations and content around game franchises, for years and years now. Both topics are quite frustrating and both serve as examples of how copyright law and its modern application appear to be getting in the way of its stated purpose: the proliferation of content and culture.
But it’s when these two topics converge that it gets unbelievably frustrating. And that brings us to a fan-made remake and enhanced version of a beloved old game: The Simpsons: Hit & Run. The original game came out in 2003 and was a fairly decent hit. Since then, the game has become completely abandoned, particularly when it comes to its PC version. I’ve looked in all the regular places and you cannot legally buy a new version of the PC game anywhere that I can find, be it on Steam, GOG, etc. The only place you can get a copy is on resale websites and for lofty amounts of money compared to its original sale price when new.
Reuben Ward was such a fan of the game that he endeavored on a years-long project to remake the game in an enhanced version within Unreal Engine 5. He also let the public follow along with his progression in a series of YouTube videos, the last of which is included below, where you can see his work and some of the enhancements he made to the game.
In a new video published to YouTube, Reubs declared the project complete. This latest version began life a year ago after Reubs pulled an earlier version offline to avoid potential legal issues with Disney. That earlier version drew praise from Hit & Run lead designer Joe McGinn, who said at the time: “Amazing what you accomplished! Really gives a taste of what a full modern remaster could be. Impressive work!”
Work that you’ll never ever get a chance to play for yourself. Why? For the most obvious of reasons. Ward mentions in the video above that the game is never going to be made available to download. He did the entire thing as his own personal hobby. And the reason he’s not going to make it downloadable is surely out of fear of any number of entities coming after him for copyright infringement.
It’s a project fans would love to see released, but Reubs has said that will never happen. In a disclaimer included in a video from 2022, Reubs said: “This is a fan remake for entertainment purposes, this game will never be available to download. Please do not pester my poor Discord mods for a download link!”
Calls for an official Simpsons: Hit and Run remake have cropped up from time to time in the 20 years since the original’s release, but it seems an unlikely project. In 2021 we spoke to Simpsons writer Matt Selman who explained why we might not see a remake anytime soon. Selman said that while he “would love to see a remastered version of [Simpsons Hit & Run]“, it would be “a complicated corporate octopus to try to make that happen”.
That’s because the rights for the game are a complicated mess, somewhat akin to the whole No One Lives Forever fiasco. That same tangled rights mess is also likely why the game, despite calls for a remake or updated version for modern hardware, isn’t happening either.
So, the end result? A beloved game appears to be abandoned by its creators, leaving it an open question as to whether that bit of culture slowly disappears forever with nobody preserving it. At the same time, a dedicated fan who rebuilt and enhanced the game as a labor of love is also denying that cultural output to the world out of fear of being sued into oblivion.
If someone can explain to me how copyright is serving its purpose in this instance, I’d love to hear it.
Filed Under: copyright, fan games, preservation, reuben warn, the simpsons, the simpsons: hit & run, video games
Comments on “Copyright Self Censorship Denies Us Another Updated Version Of An Abandoned Game”
When the owner won't step up...
Then someone (who has more IT skills than I do) pirate it and release it. After all, nobody is going to be able to claim clean ownership. They fucked with it till nobody knows who owns it and that same they can no no longer have standing to sue.
Re:
I mean, regardless of who owns the game code, we know exactly who owns The Simpsons, and they’re not generally known for their relaxed attitude toward copyright enforcement.
If all these rights are going every which way, then no one single person can claim the rights to the whole game, so the problem can be solved if a pirate with nothing to lose simply releases the game.
Re:
What you’d love to hear, and what you’re gonna hear, those are two different things, sad to have to say.
When you speak of “Constitutionally limited rights to hold a temporary monoply”, you’re looking in the wrong direction, and at the wrong thing. The problem is, the copyright cartel has repurposed the Constitution’s definition to fit their needs, not the needs of the public.
You’re welcome to guess exactly how they did this, but I’ll give you a clue: it’s spelled with 5 letters, and it rhymes with “funny”. Table optional.
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re
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That sound you hear is Tero Pulkinnen angry that nobody else besides him and his fever dreams is ever going to use Meshpage to do something other people actually care about.
Reminds Me Of Another Game...
Another game that’s stuck in Copyright Limbo is the PC game Aliens vs Predator 2. Another case where parts of the game are owned by different companies. The setting and characters are Fox/Disney, while the game engine it ran on is owned by WB.
Re:
As with the Simpson game on which this article focuses, the game engine for AvP 2 matters less than the IP at this point. Even if you remade the game in an entirely different engine, you won’t ever convince Disney to look past an unauthorized use of an IP it owns.
The average selling price for the game in 7.0-9.0 condition is Apx $30.
From 9-new the price goes up a bit, but still averages under $90
Adjusted for inflation It’s below the day-one $97.82 price.
Copyright laws suck. You don’t need fake fud to make the point.
Re:
Btw, I used $58.92 for the day one price. I don’t remember what each game cost, especially ones I only purchased to put on the shelf, not play.
I would like to see more requirements to make things available if an entity is going to claim to own exclusive rights to distribute.
If you control this book, I should be able to come buy a copy from you. If this is your game, where is the downloader and a pdf of the original insert book? We may be living in a boring dystopia but this is a low bar. I don’t have a quick and easy solution for everything being an online service with servers that have been shredded a year after launch but anything standalone should be easy to keep available. If you can’t make something available with reasonable effort, if you lost the tech or the manuscript somehow, your claim should be limited past a certain point.