After all the years and contradictions one question still remains unclear, who holds the rights of ETQW?
It’s a question no one could answer properly, neither the community nor the developers. The purpose of this thread is to finally get the answer.
I’m willing to write a letter to the owners about selling or making a succesor to the brand. But before I can do that I need to find out who the actual owners are.
First we take a look at some facts and who was responsible for what:
Enemy Territory Quake Wars (2007)
Developers:
[ul]
[li]Splash Damage[/li][li]id Software (engine development)[/li]
[li]Nerve Software (Xbox 360, maps Island and Quarry)[/li][li]Underground Development (PS3) (formerly known as Z-Axis)[/li][li]Aspyr Media (Mac OS X)[/ul][/li]
Publisher(s):
[ul]
[li]Activision[/li][li]id Software[/li][/ul]
The hold of the game rights or shares always depend on the contract between developers and publisher(s) (+other involved companies).
It’s like a symbiosis where it’s not really clear who ‘owns the game’, it’s rather who owns shares.
So in our case we got Splash Damage (as the main player) who were the ‘work for hire’ developers, id Software who own the engine plus the Quake brand and Activision who promoted it.
What do these companies say to our main question:
- Splash Damage: (posted 30th Nov 2011)
If I remember right someone from the community already contacted Activision and id long ago and their answers were anything but satisfying:
- Activision: Ask id.
- id Software: Ask Activision.
Now let’s take a look at the current situation, what makes it a little more complicated:
As probably most people know in here id Software got acquired by the company ZeniMax Media (June 24, 2009). I’m sure you also heard of Bethesda the publisher, which is an affiliated company of ZeniMax Media.
In conclusion we can say that everything which id Software owned belongs now to ZeniMax Media, hence all the game engines and all id brands. Therefore it wouldn’t make much sense to talk to id, because we got a new player in our lines. Splash Damage is also out due to their statement about id being responsible.
Maybe the answer to another question can give us a hint: Who is responsible for the ETQW master server?
It’s still running, so one company must still pay for it. Who is it?
I don’t know. That’s why I started with what I got in my head and it was Bethesda all the time…
By trying to find out how to contact them, their page with the contact details led to ZeniMax Media and that’s exactly where I started.
On Thursday I phoned them, but the lady on the phone said she couldn’t answer this question and those who would know are in LA for the E3. She said I should write an email with my concern and she would try to contact them. Now it’s weekend which means I have to be patient, but I’m so eager to hear their answer.
As soon as I got the response I’ll let you know! I also keep updating this thread with things I got to know.
No rest until the answer is finally found!
[HR][/HR]
Activisions response:
The guy on the phone from Activision totally misunderstood my question. I had to tell him the game title several times, but he has never heard of it before neither of Quake.
So as second attempt after I told them that my question was wrote down wrong I finally received a real answer.
My question (sent 18.06.14):
First official repsonse from the German Activision Support (20.06.14):
Either Activision doesn’t even know that this game ever existed, the responsible persons already left the company, or they don’t care anymore.
It was only the response of the German support though. So I will contact their global support next, if possible.
Phoned Zenimax again to ask for the status of my inquiry and they said it’s still in work, but I should receive an answer in 1-2 days.
ZeniMax response:
My question (sent 16.06.14):
Official repsonse from the German Zenimax Support (26.06.14):
Finally someone actually confesses to ETQW. What they haven’t answered is whether they own the full rights alone.
