seldoncrisispic1A few weeks ago we posted a news article about Seldon Crisis, an Isaac Asimov inspired MMO that the developers claimed would be “…the largest sandbox universe ever created.”  For a mere £250,000 the developers were going to create an epic game that would put players in control of everything, including the economy, infrastructure, and politics.  Sounds exciting!

Unfortunately, another aspect of the project seems to have brought them some unwanted attention.  See, Seldon Crisis is inspired so heavily on the works of Asimov that the famed authors’ estate complained to Kickstarter.  In a complaint dated September 17th the lawyers at Jaspan Schlesinger, who represent Asimov’s estate, state that “…the game that infringes upon Isaac Asimov’s works, to wit: The Foundation Series is a direct infringement and must be taken down.” And that’s exactly what Kickstarter did.  You can read the complaint here, or in the image below; in it you’ll see that the developers seemed to have tied themselves a bit too closely to works they don’t own.  Rather than creating something in the spirit of Asimov’s work, they appear to have been creating a continuation of it, which is a big no-no.

seldoncrisistakedownSearching the Seldon Crisis Facebook page, Twitter feed, and forums don’t shed any additional light on the situation, which may be intentional on the developer’s part.  It’s likely they’re staying quiet at the moment due to related legal issues given that the game doesn’t appear to have changed just because the Kickstarter was taken down.

What should you do if you were a backer?  Don’t worry, the most all of this will cost you is a broken heart.  And developers?  If you don’t have the rights, don’t do the game.

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About the Author

Greg Micek

Greg Micek has been writing on and off about games since the late nineties, always with a focus on indie games. He started DIYGames.com in 2000, which was one of the earliest gaming sites to focus exclusively on indie games.

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