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Baldur's Gate Removed 'At The Request Of Atari,' Says Beamdog's Trent Oster
The story of Baldur's Gate: Enhanced Edition was a good one. A classic, fan-adored title got a new lease on life, and on new platforms, too. The developer at the helm, Beamdog, was riding high, well on its way to bringing an updated version of the sequel to market in the same way. Then, last week, something went wrong.
Beamdog suddenly removed the game from its own site and the App Store citing a legal issue with a publishing partner. While CEO Trent Oster told us that there's not much more he can say on the matter, he did reveal that it was at the request of Atari's legal team that the actions were taken.
"At the request of Atari legal we removed the game from sale on Beamdog and the App stores," Oster explained. "Atari is still selling the game through their channels. We're trying to remedy the situation and I'm hopeful we can come to an arrangement."
Teases for the enhanced version of Baldur's Gate started in 2012, and it was during GDC that Oster disclosed meetings with Wizards of the Coast (which holds the Dungeons & Dragons license) and Atari (owners of the Baldur's Gate titles). Typically licensing and legal issues crop up before a game hits the market (and not six months later), and our understanding is that with Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition well underway, sales of the first title's re-release were satisfactory.
Oster recently stated that continued work on Baldur's Gate, including patches for those that have already purchased the title, is up in the air. Of course, if these issues don't get ironed out, our hopes for a Baldur's Gate III might be stamped out for good.
We've reached out to Atari for comment and clarification on the legal issues plaguing Baldur's Gate.
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