GOG Resumes Star Control Sale after Rights Dispute
The dispute between the authors of the Star Control series and the franchise owners was resolved in favor of the latter. GOG online store has resumed selling Star Control games on behalf of Stardock, as Fred Ford and Paul Reiche III could not back up their claims with documents.
Recall that a day earlier, Ford and Reiche accused Stardock of violating their rights to the Star Control franchise. According to game designers, in 2013 Stardock acquired an expired license for Star Control from Atari. Therefore, the rights to the early parts of the series belong to them as the authors of the games.
Reacting to these statements, the GOG trading platform removed Star Control 1 and 2 from sale.
After that, Stardock confirmed the legality of its ownership of the Star Control franchise, and Ford and Reiche for some reason did not do this.
“We have a lot of respect for Fred and Paul for their work on Star Control. But until they provide some proof of their claims, our rights remain in force. If you’re lucky, Star Control titles will be included in the current distribution agreement between Stardock and GOG. Paul and Fred will continue to receive royalties for the sale of classic games in their series,” said Brad Wardell, CEO of Stardock.
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