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Nicholas Lovell
Home   >   Analysis and Opinion   >   Opinion   >   Bohemia sues Codemasters over Operation Flashpoint

Bohemia sues Codemasters over Operation Flashpoint

By on March 2, 2009

Following my post about SimBin losing the plot at Slightly Mad Games, Bohemia Interactive has jumped on the bandwagon.

According to GamesIndustry.biz, Bohemia Interactive’s lawyer has sent a letter to Codemasters complaining about the marketing of Operation Flashpoint sequel, Dragon Rising.

The letter argues that while Codemasters has the right to the name “Operation Flashpoint”, the sequel uses none of the technology or game engine that powered the original open-world combat simulator.

As the recession bites, developers will struggle harder to get new projects; at the same time, as we saw at Christmas, gamers are buying fewer titles, although top titles can still get massive sales. In that environment, developers will be significantly more protective of their role on a given title, while publishers will be keen to exploit brands which have consumer recognition.

It’s a brave developer which threatens legal action against a major publisher which owns the rights to a key IP that the developer created – it sets a dangerous precedent, and other publishers might think twice about working with Bohemia in the future now that they have shown their litigious nature. Bohemia must have considered this carefully, and concluded that the risk of scaring off publishers was less than letting Codemasters “getting away” with claiming that Dragon Rising is a sequel to Operation Flashpoint.

Personally, I think that they are very wrong.

About Nicholas Lovell

Nicholas is the founder of Gamesbrief, a blog dedicated to the business of games. It aims to be informative, authoritative and above all helpful to developers grappling with business strategy. He is the author of a growing list of books about making money in the games industry and other digital media, including How to Publish a Game and Design Rules for Free-to-Play Games, and Penguin-published title The Curve: thecurveonline.com