Westwood Studios Dune 2: Building a Dynasty isn’t the first real-time strategy game ever made, but it is one of the earliest examples of the genre and essentially provided the blueprint for the future of RTS games, inspiring Blizzard and other studios in the process. But it seems very unlikely that this important piece of PC gaming history will see an official re-release in the near future or become part of GOG’s preservation program.
In a new interview with GamesRadar, Marcin Paczynski, senior manager of business development and partnerships at PC gaming store GOG, explained how complicated and messy the rights to 1992 games are. Dunes 2. And it comes down to the fact that the influential RTS is based on a movie based on a book, from a studio owned by another company; in this case, EA.
“So currently, Electronic Arts owns the game code, the assets, all the rights to these things and all the hardware around the game,” Paczynski explained.
“But of course, they are not owners (Dune) IP. The problem with intellectual property is that it is not directly owned by (Dune estate of writer Frank Herbert), because the games were not based on the books; they were actually based on the 1984 film. This film was created by Universal Pictures, and the main producer of this film was (Dino De Laurentiis). The problem is that he also has some of that movie license with him. But he died 15 years ago.
This means that De Laurentiis’ estate owns a “portion” of Dunes 2. And then there is another complication. Legendary Pictures owns the intellectual property rights to the new Dune films and has a deal with Funcom to create Dune Awakeninga survival game set in the Dune universe. And according to Paczynski, this agreement includes a certain “exclusivity”.
Exactly how or even if this deal would prevent the Westwood classic from being re-released Dune games including Dunes 2000is “unclear at the moment,” Paczynski said. But that’s yet another problem to solve if someone were to try to bring back these important classics.
For Paczynski, this is likely a frustrating situation as he considers Dunes 2 as one of his personal “Holy Grails” that GOG must bring back and preserve.
“It’s at the top of my list, my personal list, because it’s a game that I have a lot of nostalgia for,” Paczynski said. “The situation is a good example of how serious the situation is when it comes to licensing a game.”
It’s also a great example of why fan projects tend to be the best, and often only, option for playing classic games decades after their launch. Fans who create patches and mods don’t (usually) have to deal with lawyers and legal hurdles in the same way that GOG and other companies have to do when trying to bring back a classic.
However, I hope that one day Dunes 2 receives a proper and officially supported re-release on modern PC storefronts so that it can be easily played by new players. Dune essentially ushered in what would become the modern RTS and, as a result, led to the creation of games like Warcraft, which then led to MOBAs like League of Legends. It’s an important piece of video game history that deserves a return.
Gn tech
