Quote:
Originally Posted by baseballfan83
They are greedy because they fail to realize what a great marketing opportunity OOTP is to their dying brand. It is no secret that the MLB is a dying sport. The context of "America's past time" is quickly taking on a different meaning. Sure, the sport still has a strong following, but young people have become disillusioned with the sport. Eventually, fans will die off, and if they aren't replacing those fans with new ones, the demand will burn out.
Look, I understand that they don't want just anyone capitalizing on their trademark(s) without paying royalties.
That doesn't mean they can't extend a license to OOTP that isn't greedy. The MLB reserves the right to license their trademark however they choose. So long as they continue to enforce the right to their trademark, it doesn't matter what terms they extend on an individual basis.
The fact that OOTP was forced to remove the names so promptly speaks volumes about the MLB.
In the very least, it means that the developers of OOTP were unable to agree with the MLB upon fair terms for the use of the license. The implications of that are fairly damning.
- They wanted enough in royalties to effectively make development of the game a non-profitable venture.
- They didn't entertain the idea of OOTP obtaining a license, and didn't even extend the opportunity to the OOTP team.
- OOTP simply didn't have enough time to review the terms of licensing with legal council.
The third bullet is the best case scenario because it means there is hope for the future that an agreement can be reached. The fact that they were forced to remove the names in the mean time, though, makes me less hopeful.
MLB is basically getting marketing that they didn't even have to pay for. They didn't have to invest anything into the development of this product. I'm all for them protecting their trademarks, but they don't need to bankrupt OOTP in the process.
This game has been out for 15 years, and they are just now coming after them. Why? I bet it has something to do with the game landing on Steam. I don't think it's a coincidence. The game is gaining popularity. The MLB wants a piece of that pie. |
Ok I have stayed out of all this nonsense until now. Markus discussed the MLB issue in greater detail with the beta team a couple weeks ago and asked us to maintain confidentiality which most have done. I wish he had shared in more detail with the general forum but it is his choice not to at this time for whatever reason.
With that said, the bolded parts of the post are pure crap. MLB has been aware of OOTP for at least 2 years ever since they made Markus take logo's out of iOOTP. The fact that Markus doesn't have a license yet has more to do with the glacial pace of MLB then the fact that Markus isn't trying or isn't happy with terms.
All the doom and gloom is at polar opposites with how Markus presented it to the beta team. MLB doesn't want to bankrupt OOTP unless OOTP blatantly thumbs its nose at them.
One last thing that people forget in all their legal advising is that OOTP is a German company where trademark law is different and complicates matters somewhat.
Ok I've said all I can without Markus hunting me down and clubbing me with a beer stein but I really wish people would back off all the wild-eyed speculation.