Kalle said:
As for Troika having a 'moral' right to make Fallout 3 over Bethesda, that argument is so mind-bogglingly stupid that to see it paraded around in this thread time and time again makes me question the sanity of everyone who uses it.
Moral is a bit of a loaded word.
I really don't think this is a bunch of 'fanboys' being whiny because their pet developer didn't get the project. It's NOT just a Troika thing. It's more then that. You ignored this analogy, but let me restate it.
Bethesda goes under. Todd Howard and a bunch of ex-Bethesdites form a new company, say... Silver Springs Studios. SSS makes a bid on the rights to the Elder Scrolls, but Bioware with their money-bags sweeps in and snatches it up. Answer this:
Is it legitimate for Elder Scrolls fans to be upset?
Well, SSS would certainly have no
legal claim to the Elder Scrolls. The rememenants of Bethesda and their creditors could do whatever they pleased with them. Absolutely. No argument there. They could even sell them to Bioware and listen to Elder Scrolls fans cry as their new lead developer said "I'm so excited to be making Elder Scrolls 5. My favorite Elder Scrolls game was Stormhold, the cell phone game!"
I believe however, that
all other things being equal SSS would have more of a right to the Elder Scrolls rights then Bioware. I think I, and most of the Codex, would probably side with SSS just as much as we side with Troika. SSS would, again, have no legal claim on the Elder Scrolls, but they would have a sort of 'spiritual' claim, or 'moral' claim. That dosn't mean Bioware couldn't buy them. But it does mean that if Bioware knew SSS was trying to get the IP, the dignified, polite, and correct thing would have been to step down and let SSS reclaim their 'baby'. Of course, big companies are hardly renowned for such traits.
After all, the people at SSS would be the people who made the Elder Scrolls. They'd be the people who wrote the lore. Planted every tree and giant mushroom. Shaped Vvardenfall and Cyrodill by hand. Slaved away long hours to bring the world to life. The Elder Scrolls was their creation, and it would be
absolutely legitimate for fans of the series to be angry and disapointed that the people who gave birth to the games wouldn't have a chance to continue their legacy. They'd have every right to be upset that the Elder Scrolls had been taken over by a new company with nothing on thier side but money, and who apparently planned on changing the game dramatically and probably unrecognizably.
Now, perhaps under those circumstances you'd show up here and make snide comments about Silver Springs Studios and the developers. Perhaps you'd show up and say
"Thank god Todd Howard and that bunch of loosers didn't get the rights! After all, what the fuck do they know about the Elder Scrolls?" Maybe you'd loudly and stridently defend Bioware, insisting that a contract and large amount of money trumped all other considerations and that it was "mind-bogglingly stupid" to think that the ex-Bethesdites at SSS had ANY claim AT ALL to making future Elder Scrolls titles. Maybe you'd insist that the disapointed Elder Srolls fans were 'just a bunch of fanboys' who were somehow delusional or stupid for prefering to see Elder Scrolls 5 made by the same folks who made the earlier games. Maybe you'd be baffled why they all didn't start immediately fellating Bioware, and chalk it up to stuborn idiocy and wishfull thinking. Maybe that would help you sleep at night.
But you'd be just as wrong then as you are now.