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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Rights Disputed

News

by Matthew Kato on December 13, 2012 at 09:24 AM

11,330 Views

Update: Ukrainian S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series developer GSC Game World has responded to yesterday's claims from BitComposer Entertainment that BitComposer now holds the rights to the series.

In a statement on its website (below), GSC categorically refuted BitComposers' claim. Interestingly, GSC's development of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 was stopped earlier this year because the company's new investors at the time couldn't come to an agreement with the IP's rights holder.

In view of the rumors appearing in press, we find it necessary to inform that GSC Game World and [GSC CEO] Sergey Grigorovich remain to be the sole owners of all the intellectual property rights to the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. game series and the brand overall, including all the trademarks, the game universe, the technology etc. This can be easily verified with the trademark services online.

From time to time news on the S.T.A.L.K.E.R. brand purchase by this or that company appear over the Internet. We relate such a keen interest in the brand to its exceptional popularity. Even the purchase of rights to create a “Roadside picnic” book-based game by a small publisher is presented as the continuation of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. franchise. We have doubts regarding the mentioned product by bitComposer (the publisher of S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat on some territories), since the latter has significant debts in terms of fulfilling the obligations under the existing contract between our companies.

Who will we be hearing from next? We imagine it'll be a lawyer.

[Thanks to reader Daniel T. for the tip!]

Original Story: The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. series is back on its feet, thanks to a German born company who has acquired the rights to the series.

BitComposer Entertainment – who published the series' Call of Pripyat in 2010 – will put out future games for the franchise, although nothing specific has been announced.

It was previously rumored earlier this year that Bethesda had its eye on the series, but whether that was untrue from the start or the deal fell through somehow is unknown.

Email the author Matthew Kato, or follow on Twitter, and Game Informer.

Filed under: News, S.T.A.L.K.E.R., Stalker, BitComposer Entertainment

Comments

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by MACattackROGI Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 09:52 AM

It would be cool if thq got it and it was a parallel with the metro games!
by Warrior Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 10:05 AM

Nice, let's hope something great happens.
by jkruse05 Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 10:09 AM

Here's hoping they hand it to a dev that will do the series justice.
by Master Chief Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 10:16 AM

I hope this comes to consoles like the last one was going to to. Also it would be awesome if 4A games got a hold of it they would do a fantastic job with the game.
by outlaw4728 Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 10:17 AM

Damn. Bethesda would have been an awesome developer for the series.
by rip403 Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 10:24 AM

I would have rathered it gone to Bethesda but this works aswell
by Doctor Whale Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 10:25 AM

BitComposer never got S.T.A.L.K.E.R. They got STALKER, a different IP.
Edit: Evidence: http://galyonkin.com/2012/12/12/net-nemtsyi-ne-kupili-s-t-a-l-k-e-r/ and http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/12/12/bitcomposer-acquire-s-t-a-l-k-e-r-from-strygatsky/
by Drurr Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 10:32 AM

My Dick is so hard right now
by screamingllama135 Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 10:48 AM

I love Bethesda's games but I'm very glad they aren't developing this series. All of their in house games have the same look and feel to them and this series would not be a good fit. Plus if they went to consoles, PS3 owners would be screwed because for some reason, Bethesda has a problem developing for it when no other developer does. Either way I'm super excited for future games in this series, they are so good!
by Zachary Pligge Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 11:20 AM

Great news that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. rights were acquired. I'm really excited to see what BitComposer Entertainment does with the franchise. It would've been nice to have Bethesda behind the wheel, but I still have high hopes!
by squadcar Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 11:48 AM

As much as I like Bethesda, they can grab this game but they better not make it play like Fallout. I like the way Fallout was changed and I like The Elder Scrolls. STALKER had it's own way of playing and I don't want that ruined. Who knows? I just want more STALKER games.
by BethesdaWare Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 11:51 AM

This is kind of a complicated issue due to the fact that BGS and BS used to be the same company pre-Oblivion, but Bethesda Game Studios (developer) makes The Elder Scrolls games and the Fallout games. When Game Informer refers to just "Bethesda," they are talking about Bethesda Softworks (publisher) more than 90% of the time. It's a possibility that Game Informer is intentionally vague due to the fact that they may not even understand the exact infrastructure of ZeniMax Media Inc. (parent company) and all of its properties (Bethesda Softworks, Bethesda Game Studios, Arkane Studios, id Software, ZeniMax Online Studios, etc. are all sister companies). The major difference here is that unlike EA, Ubisoft, and Activision, ZeniMax Inc. doesn't publish games directly under their name, but rather Bethesda Softworks, which was created for the exact purpose of publishing. Had "Bethesda" (publisher) acquired the rights to the franchise, Bethesda Game Studios would not be developing the next S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Todd Howard and his studio already have their hands full developing Fallout and The Elder Scrolls around the clock and I don't see them acquiring another IP anytime soon. Not to mention this game doesn't fit the genre of game that BGS develops anyways.
by internetzealot Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 11:59 AM

Thank God
by funkwolf Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 12:28 PM

Germans aren't too good at making video games, they can make them ok but not great. They're better at coding than full time game developing. Fingers crossed they Germans know what they're doing and are secretly game creating gods in disguise.
by MindFyre Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 12:39 PM

Jagged Alliance: Back In Action was absolutely terrible, but at least it's better than Bethesda. Look what happened to poor Black Isle.
by xTheCrowing Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 12:50 PM

This is good news but still a bit disappointing that Bethesda wont be involved.
by alphablack Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 12:52 PM

hopefully they can make a console version
by The Soapbox Lord Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 01:02 PM

I was hoping 4A would be involved. At least the series is still alive!
by Obriam Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 01:02 PM

Oh no! This means that they will try again? I hope they bury it in the desert!