IU was reading an article that said Kojima and that other dude probably would not make a horror game because then the company kojima was with may sue for idea theft or something but my question is…
is that legit"? like how far does that cover? could rockstar of sued volition for saints row? like what stops people from suing games of similiar nature and etc. im just trying to understand this.
Basically Konami could try to claim copyright on any idea that Kojima comes up with, saying that he came up with it while working at Konami or it was part of an internal Konami project, and they own that idea. They would have to prove that, or just throw enough lawyers at him he’d have to shut the game down. It also depends on what his contract looked like.
So you can not be sued for making games with the same theme? like if someone made a game that was similiar to gta or similiar ot cod, i mean cuz there is a lot. I guess the article just worried me even though I am working on a small scale game. but imo all ideas are based off or influenced by something so it had me like oh **** what if there is a game I dont know about similiar to mine lol
Unless the idea for a game was pitched to a studio, then you can’t be sued for doing a game that’s similar to another game----so for instance, if someone pitched a game to a studio, and the studio turned down the idea(didn’t buy it from them) and then went and made it anyways, then the person could sue them.
By the way though, some game mechanics are patented, so there are certain things in a game that you can’t actually do without permission/paying for licensing. Like the dialog wheel in Mass Effect.
You could be sued for pretty much anything, but that doesn’t mean it will be successful or even go to court. Kojima is just more likely to be sued if he produces a game similar to a game he’s already made/worked on like if he made a slow paced foggy horror game or an expansion to what PT was.
As a game developer, most games are similar to other games, there’s a decent number of clones out there, the biggest issue is when you are trying to make a game that potential customers could easily confuse for another game.
@darthviper107 just to add to your point, loading screen mini games were patented until this year.
how do you find out what is patented in game wise.
You hire a lawyer who will charge you an truly breath taking amount of money to come back to you in 6 months with the answer “Everything”.
It’s all a racket made by lawyers for lawyers.
The only thing protecting Indies these days is the fact that the big game studios know you can’t get blood from a stone, so they mostly don’t bother.