Topic: Descent removed from GOG.com - also likely to disappear from Steam

[tueidj]

Those with keen eyes might have noticed Descent 1+2 and Descent 3 are no longer available for purchase from GOG.com. It turns out Interplay haven't been paying the appropriate royalties to the game's original creators (Parallax Software) since 2007:
https://www.gog.com/forum/general/descent_12_descent_3_removed_from_sale/post142
(The story from Matt Toschlog himself.)

The games are still currently available on Steam, although by the sounds of things that should not be the case so it's possible they will also soon be removed, leaving no "legal" method to obtain them.

[Scyphi]

Auuugggghhh, Interplaaaaaay! You just don't learn do you? I mean, they basically went down this same route with Fallout, didn't they?

That said...glad I bought D1 and D3 on Steam when I did. Yeah, if and when they get taken down off Steam, I won't be able to still play them through Steam...but I don't actually need Steam to run them as I have all the needed files to run them natively on my system.

And I do hope things get worked out between Parallax and Interplay...not for Interplay's benefit so much as for Descent's continued future as a franchise.

Relieved that DU's still in the clear legally. Though I can't help but think this'll still cause some kind of speed bump for Descendant Studios that the good folks over there certainly don't deserve.

[D2Disciple]

The good news is that, if you already purchased any of the Descent titles on GOG, they are still available for download from your library.

Curiously, I've seen some commenters on this news try to peg this on Parallax, claiming corporate greed as D:U nears an official release. I think it's perfectly fair - 8 years without royalties isn't just patient, it's downright long-suffering. Once the distributing company refusing payouts for years decides to license the IP to a new team, it's beyond time to lay that hammer down, even if it means distribution woes.

The good news is that, to my knowledge, Mike and Matt are both totally cool with D:U and haven't given them any trouble whatsoever in developing the game. I have a hard time believing that, with both Volition and Outrage's continued support for very poorly-selling titles years after being pulled from shelves, it's Parallax's fault. Of course, with Interplay's history of... *ahem* underhanded business practices, I don't doubt Matt's word one second.

[tueidj]

The sad thing is, if the reports of no royalties since 2007 are accurate it means Mike and Matt haven't seen a single cent from any of the GoG.com sales (GoG opened in 2008) which would include a huge amount of people who bought the game to use with the various source ports (rebirth, d2x-xl, my wii port) which were all made possible by their generous release of the source code.
Interplay have just been sitting on their butts collecting free money, even being so bold as to nearly double their prices a few years back.
The Steam situation is looking even dodgier; supposedly Interplay partnered with a dev house named Olde Skuul for the "port" (which is actually just a repackaging of the GoG release - no extra work involved at all). Olde Skuul was founded by some of the original Interplay devs and claimed the money from the Descent sales on Steam would be going towards "future improvements" for the game, such as a new release featuring dxx-rebirth with proper Steam integration. In reality I'm pretty sure this was just a bold-faced lie to try to justify the higher price of the Steam release compared to GoG.

[Kaiaatzl]

Ironic that Interplay would serve a cease and desist to a tiny indie team who they know hasn't made any money, demanding big bucks; but they illegally refuse to pay royalties themselves...

They're so deluded it's adorable.
Who thinks they're above the law?!  Who does?!  That's right, you do!

[Ionized]

This is exactly why I'm glad that Sol Contingency has left the Descent IP and Interplay behind, not to mention the greater artistic freedom if affords them.

[tueidj]

This actually confirms what several people earlier suspected when D:U was announced: Interplay didn't own the rights to the Descent assets, their C&D was a huge bluff. The only things from the original games that they have control over are the name itself (probably only because they were the ones who registered it as a trademark as a formality before sale) and some of the music. Plus the fact that Parallax has now completely revoked Interplay's rights to distribute, their C&D wouldn't be worth the paper it's printed on.

[Scyphi]

Personally, what I'd like to see come out of all of this is Parallax do something to cut Interplay from the Descent picture altogether, as they clearly can't be trusted too well anymore. Unfortunately, I don't think Parallax is in the right position to do that legally at the moment, and certainly not financially. 

But, you know, if Parallax really does still exist as a legal entity at the very least, this could very well means we know at long last were the rest of the "missing" Descent rights wound up.

[tueidj]

Parallax is basically just Matt and Mike who have both had very successful careers. I'm sure they've got plenty of funds, otherwise they at least would have chased this up a long time ago. I would guess this situation arose when their frustration with Interplay dicking them around over the royalties (while at the same time pocketing money from the D:U kickstarter) finally outweighed the satisfaction and enjoyment they get from seeing people today still playing their 20+ year old game.

[-<WillyP>-]

Thanks for reporting this. I looked and Descent is still in my library on GOG, so apparently if you already bought it your good to go.

[Thunderbird]

As far as I can tell, standard procedure from any digital store is to allow existing owners to continue to use (and redownload if necessary) stuff they bought if it gets removed from the online store for whatever reason. I'm sure they all have stuff in their terms about exceptions to that, but who really wants to stir THAT hornets' nest?

On another note, I just did a search in the Steam store, and the Descent games are still listed there.

[tueidj]

As far as I can tell, standard procedure from any digital store is to allow existing owners to continue to use (and redownload if necessary) stuff they bought if it gets removed from the online store for whatever reason. I'm sure they all have stuff in their terms about exceptions to that, but who really wants to stir THAT hornets' nest?

It's standard procedure for GoG, but not for Steam. Sometimes recalled games simply disappear from people's libraries, other times they will show a message that the game is no longer available when attempting to start it (thanks to Steam's DRM check).

The only times GoG has removed games completely is when regional laws have declared certain games illegal in specific regions.

[Zantor]

Interplay has.... flawed management. I could go into more detail but don't want to seem flaming.

[Thunderbird]

I checked the Steam Store out of curiosity earlier this week, and the Descent games are gone from there now. I never bought any of them from there, so I cannot speak as to whether those who did can still play them.

[Scyphi]

Booted up Steam real quick to find out. Turns out you can still...but this doesn't surprise me too much, as the games are not really reliant on Steam at all but are all locally installed to your computer and can be ran normally like they always have before in original versions, if you so desired. All Steam does is give you a convenient "start" button, which still works.