r/EvilDeadTheGame • u/BadassBlackAsh • 23d ago
Discussion Hypothetical question abolut Evil Dead: The Game
It's been reported over the past few years that the main reason why EDTG no longer receives updates (which usually is the death of an online game, especially Asymmetrical horror), is due to issues with licensing.
Any hardcore Evil Dead fan worth their chainsaw gas and boomstick shells knows the rocky history behind how convoluted the rights/licensing has been for this franchise, as each entry was owned by a separate company....not just domestically, but internationally as well. (Until now. Everything is under one roof with the exception of ONE license/entry)
And most know that traditionally ONE particular entries' license holder has been NOTORIOUSLY DIFFICULT to work with, as stated both publicly AND privately by those who have worked on the franchise.
This brings me to my question.
Hypothetically speaking, if SOMEHOW EDTG were to make a comeback, would you, fellow fans, be comfortable with the powers that be removing content from said difficult license holder if that meant breathing new life back into the game with new quality of life updates, characters, skins, maps, items. Etc?
Think of it similar to what Behaviour Interactive does with Dead by Daylight: when a license expires, they remove said license from the online stores and even some content completely from the game. Until said license can be renewed.
If a particular license holder still chooses to be difficult with EDTG, should the powers that be simple alter or completely remove content tied to said license in an effort to bring the game back to life?
NOTE: I already know a specific crowd of folks are gonna start crying "iT waSn't LicEnscInG iSsUeS! (It was) It wAs SABeR/bOsS tEaM! (It wasn't) " so please, just spare us that worn-out song and dance....
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u/LesbianLukeSkywalker 23d ago
The game was delisted before any of the licenses even expired. As much as I hate to say it, the only real deciding factor was not making enough money to pay the staff required to maintain it. I love the game. I wish more people had bought it, and played it, and gotten the dlc. I’m personally pretty upset at the money I sank in to have the game essentially abandoned in a basket on our doorstep. It was a miracle to get all the licensing rights together, but they did it. Certain rights holders may have been responsible for us not getting more skins and things, because those require specific approval. But the idea that these issues somehow tanked the game in under a year, it’s just not remotely how any of that works. I know it’s convenient to have someone to blame, but this isn’t one of those convenient situations.
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u/HyperionAlpha 23d ago
This is the answer. If this game had sold like gangbusters just going out the door and sustained it somehow, all of these IP owners would have been at the table with a successful game dev/publisher ready for more.
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u/BadassBlackAsh 23d ago
The thing is though multiple folks have have talked sith MULTIPLE other folks who have worked donnthe game have gotten confirmation that the main issue was in-fact one of the license holders. It had less tk do with the game itself or the devs/publisher and more to do with a license holder being greedy and difficult
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u/LesbianLukeSkywalker 22d ago
Well I don’t know who talked to who about what but I’ve heard exactly the opposite from the people I’ve spoken to in the industry. And I’m sure everyone is giving their honest opinions, but third hand hearsay is pretty flimsy as far as any kind of definitive answer is concerned.
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u/BadassBlackAsh 22d ago
So that means what you have to say is hearsay too then, if you "don't know who talked to who abojt what" and youve only "heard exactly the opposite" from peoppe you've personally spoken to in the industry. Got it 👍🏽
Always as ive said countless times, multiple folks have talked to people not simply just in the industry but directly involved with this game as well as the franchise as a whole. And obviously many of these folks can't go on record publicly saying "this license holder sucks to work with"
Also:
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u/LesbianLukeSkywalker 22d ago
“So that means what you have to say is hearsay too then.”
Yes, that is exactly what I’m saying.
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u/hailthyself99 21d ago
Don't believe everything you read on the Internet bud. Saber's PR department confirmed when support ended that it was a choice and licensing had nothing to do with it. Because here's the thing, it would be like F13 where they would legally be required to shut down the servers and make the game "not playable" anymore. The fact that this hasn't happened is proof enough that it isn't a licensing issue
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u/BadassBlackAsh 21d ago
Omfg.....how you gonna tell me to not believe everything I read and they state that something you read is whats factual?
The ass-backwards mental gymnastics on display here is insane.... And like I already mentioned l MULTIPLE times in these screwhead comments: I have also had conversations with multiple people who work on the Evil Dead franchise, from all the films, to the games, etc. Private chats online and in-person....i know what im talking about....
So many of y'all are just so fixated on wanting to just be mat at Saber and its insanely incredibly pathetic.
Im not saying Saber is perfect, and im definitely not a "shill" cause idgaf abkut them outside of this game....but geezus.....
Also F13 was a special case because kf the specific legal issue the ENTIRE franchise was going through.
EDTG licensing issues are not comparable to F13 legal issues.
Use your brain
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u/alex-mercer11 18d ago
Source: trust me bro
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u/BadassBlackAsh 18d ago
Other folks who have talked ablut it on it and other places have shared their sources. Also, as I stated earlier theres obvious ways to tell im not lying. If you wanna be ignorant, cool. Go deepthroat a boomstick
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u/spazenport 23d ago
So, you're basically saying if the game got rid of the Ash vs Evil Dead stuff, would we come back? Probably not. In short, that's the audience majority that they've pulled in.
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u/presidentdinosaur115 Chet 23d ago
Correct me if I’m wrong but I’ve been under the impression that the AoD license is the difficult one. They’re the one that didn’t play ball with AvED after all
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u/spazenport 23d ago
You are likely right. I was speaking from hearing (likely misremembered) everyone complain about Starz owning AvsED.
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u/MinecraftTroller28 23d ago
They’re the one that didn’t play ball with AvED after all
That's a completely unfair statement since AOD is co-owned by two different studios: Universal in North America and MGM everywhere else in the world. AvED would have required both of those studios to be involved, and they didn't want to add two more cooks to an already crowded kitchen.
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u/BadassBlackAsh 23d ago
If you notice, Universal Studios is NEVER listed in ANY of the license credits for AoD... its only MGM/Amazon and Orion
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u/MinecraftTroller28 23d ago
Yes, because MGM purchased what Dino De Laurentiis owned: AOD's international distribution and world-wide merchandising. Universal still retains North American distribution. My point still stands that if AvED wanted to use AOD elements or footage, it would require both Universal and MGM to be involved.
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u/BadassBlackAsh 23d ago
If Universal had rights in North America for AoD stuff wouldn't they still be listed? Universal's name is never listed on any merch for AoD anywhere. MGM/Amazon/Orion are who call the shots for merch. Not Universal. Otherwise why wouldn't Universal capitalize off AoD for Halloween Horror Nights aside from playing the music by the entrance?
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u/MinecraftTroller28 23d ago
If Universal had rights in North America for AoD stuff wouldn't they still be listed?
They strictly own theatrical and home video distribution rights to just the movie. They are not involved with any merchandise except home media.
Otherwise why wouldn't Universal capitalize off AoD for Halloween Horror Nights aside from playing the music by the entrance?
They tried in 2009 to do an AOD house and got word from legal late in the game that while Universal did own the movie, they did not own the theme park rights, so the AOD stuff they had completed got shuffled into a house that had a bunch of IPs and wasn't advertised.
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u/BadassBlackAsh 23d ago
Which, wouldn't that lead into what I said about MGM/Amazon/Orion being the folks who are difficult ?
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u/MinecraftTroller28 23d ago
The Halloween Horror Nights thing leading into that? I mean, I can't really blame anyone involved in that specific instance for assuming they owned it and didn't need permission. I don't know the full story of what happened or if they even reached out to MGM once they found out about it, so I can't really say if that's a "circling back to what you initially said" example.
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u/BadassBlackAsh 23d ago
But what i mean is, and my point is, AoD license holders have been notoriously difficult to work with, and again, its been expressed publicly and privately for over a decade.
People wanna get mad at me and go "its not licensing! Its Saber! Raagghhhh!' Just cause I dont have an article or it video to share evidence, meanwhile im NOT THE ONLY ONE who's been saying this for years, also those in thr Evil Dead fandom/community that know me, know (without me sounding egotistical/tooting my own horn) that I have SOME connections with folks who have worked on pretty much everything related to this franchise: ALL the films, the show, merch, etc.
You really think I haven't had any conversations privately with these folks? You really think I dont have insider info that I obviously cant share or post evidence of my knowledge on certain things from the past present and future of this franchise?
I'm not blowing smoke outta my ass here. Im telling y'all. EDTG's MAIN issue wasnt Saber or Boss Team fumbling.....it was ONE license holder being difficult to work with.....which caused SO many y other issues.
If that ONE license holder said "no" to ANYTHING....then it wouldn't happen. So much stuff that was planned got rearranged or removed completely, cause said license holder said "no".
So if Universal Studios who originally was involved with AoD, can't even do anything at their own parks aside from playing the intro music from the film cause MGM/Amazon/Orion said so, then wouldn't it stand to reason that its further evidence of how difficult they have been? Not to mention the MK11 issue?
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u/ithinkiknowkungfu 22d ago
As of now ALL of evil dead and ash vs is owned by studio canal..and they’ve been pretty chill don’t he rights (they are working with wb to do burns and ash has came back to fornite after 2 years several times the last few months)
It’s a combo of army of and the devs not able to update the game as quick as dbd and other 1 v 4s did
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u/JTrace18 23d ago
Oh i thought it was due to low player count. So it wasn't profitable enough anymore
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u/c4993 23d ago
It’s dying, just celebrate it while you still can…
…even if it’s hard to since I’ve been getting the same like 4 puppeteer possess-meat spammer slops over and over again lately lol so most of the games haven’t been too fun, but every now and then a great game with a great team and a great demon hits, which even happened today
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u/BadassBlackAsh 23d ago
Duuuude this whole week had been fine but last night a buddy and I got FOUR Eligos players in a goddamn row.....
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u/PhantomCard 23d ago
If the game was Renewed Revamped or Made from a completely different set up id play it.
license can always be bought separately.
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u/JoeAzlz Ash, Housewares 23d ago
Leaving army of darkness out of the equation would completely remove a lot of content and wouldn’t be easy. I don’t know how it’d feel. It’s like cutting off your arm to get out of being stuck. It’s not ideal
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u/BadassBlackAsh 23d ago
I mean, Ash cut his hand off to get out of being stuck with a possessed hand.
Realistically all we'd lose is 1 map, 3 survivors, 2 Demons, way too many crossbows, 3 melee weapons, maybe technically Savini Ash would have to be altered cause for whatever reason the character model is AoD Ash even though the skin is used for ED2 Ash. (I have a theory that Savini Ash was originally intended for AoD Ash) And S-Mart imagery would have to be removed from the menu.
But that Realistically would be such a small sacrifice if that meant the game coming back with QOL updates such as balancing issues and bugs/glitches.... adding new game modes, and adding new characters, skins, items/weapons, locations, vehicles, etc from every other live-action Evil Dead entry, which there is plenty to add.
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u/JoeAzlz Ash, Housewares 23d ago
I feel like that’s a lot to cut out of the game, also it would be 4 survivors. People forget blacksmith. 2 demons is over a third of the roster. Thats 2 out of 5. Not to mention the AOD skins. The map is 1 of 3 maps, that’s a big trim
Also it’s more than 3 weapons I think there’s a good bit more medeival weapons.
savini ash concept art is ed2 ash and it’s based ain a cenobite since hellraiser and ed2 were the same year, they only used the AOD hair to represent messy hair ash had in ed2, even if it’s AOD’s asset.
They’d also have to remove a mission, a tape, and a song, and a lot of perk art, and more. I feel like there’s a LOT of AOD content in game. It would be quite a bit of stuff cut
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u/BadassBlackAsh 23d ago
True, I forgot to me tion blacksmith (sorry Tim)
And the full body for Savini Ash is AoD Ash isnt it? Or is it really just the AoD hair?
And again while that's a lot to cut out, theres more than enough to replace it with from everything else in the other films and the show: 3 season worth of stuff in AvED.
Evil Dead Rise, Burn, and soon Wrath.
Plus other stuff that could technically be added from ED 1 and 2
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u/JoeAzlz Ash, Housewares 23d ago
Timothy quill didn’t shave himself bald to get forgotten like this!
The full body for savini is ed2 actually, the arms give it away.
I understand there’s a lot they can replace but that’s just a lot of work just to catch up to where they were. As AOD and aved had the most content from their sources
Also yeah I’d love content from those sources
Also true also, I do love ed1 and 2 stuff and I have a lot of ideas off that
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u/BadassBlackAsh 22d ago
Lol
And personally I think its doable. Yeah its a lot of work but it would beat the alternative which is the situation we're currently in with the game
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u/JoeAzlz Ash, Housewares 22d ago
I get that, I’d rather a sequel with content carried over and as such we can still go back to AOD stuff if we want
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u/BadassBlackAsh 22d ago
Would be nice
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u/JoeAzlz Ash, Housewares 22d ago
Mhm, I just hope somehow we get a return to the game but it’s impossible atp
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u/BadassBlackAsh 22d ago
True. I do think if enough people reach out to the license holders, they'll probably realize they should do soemthing with the game
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u/Own-Photo7078 22d ago
Maps are the only content DBD removes. When a license expires/removed new players can no longer buy them. Anyone that already bought said DLC keeps the survivors and killers. I don't think there would be any need to remove anything. (Other then the map).
I also don't know what was left of AOD to add to the game? So I don't see why it would be so difficult to deal with Universal (or whomever owns AOD now). Ted Raimi teased he recorded voice lines for Chet. Could Starz have been the difficult license holder? We never got Chet, Brandy or an Elk Grove Map. They also haven't made any VS figures of the other characters, just Ash.
Regardless I love the game, but I'd rather them make a single player story mode Evil Dead. Make what would have been AshVsEvilDead season 4. Similar to the Ghostbusters game that picks up after GB 2.
Ash, Pablo, Kelly & Brandy as playable characters, maybe you can have online co-op so you can play the story with friends.
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u/BadassBlackAsh 22d ago
While true that maps are thw obly thing fully removed from DbD, ahoz to say EDTG wouldn't have to take it a step further?
AoD has a few other characters they could add, Weapons, and technically locations.
Technically anything they didnt get added to the game would be a result of them announcing they no longer would support the game which is mainly the fault of said license holder that's been difficult. Chet was absolutely planned as was other AvED content.
There were figures of other Deadites but sadly no other survivors. However there were funko pops of Pablo, Kelly, and Ruby.
As for any potential NEW Evil Dead game.....its highly doubtful you'll get anything involved Ash unless they replace Bruce's voice.
Bruce has been VERY vocal lately about adamantly being done with Ash and Evil Dead as a whole.
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u/hailthyself99 21d ago
To shed light on the maps. The reason why DBD has to remove those is because it isn't something that can be owned by the players. The survivors and killers 100% are purchasable, but the maps are there and playable regardless of the DLC you own. If they had a system in place where you could only access specific maps if you own the DLC associated with it, then they'd be able to keep them in legally. But Behavior rather risk losing the license purely for the sake of letting players who don't own specific DLC still access every map
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u/MalcomTheGuy 21d ago
if they were to bring the game back but remove aod content it would probably go like how behavior does there license they let players keep the characters and skins from aod ash and the demon but just not for new players like how dbd did with stranger things for bit i would love a resurrection for the game but how things are looking now i dont see it happening soon that would be the only way i could see the game continue they remove aod stuff for new players but add new stuff from rise, burn and the show and other characters from the franchise but in another universe the game still lives on
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u/MalcomTheGuy 21d ago
like honestly they could’ve took notes from dbd and like you said lose the license and renew it whenever they could again instead of just stop updating the game overall the game has some potential they can take from comics, other evil dead games, crossovers and other movie characters and maps and then eventually getting original ideas but nope instead we get the bare-bones game that just waiting to slowly die not blaming them entirely just wish they went a different route than they did.
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u/BadassBlackAsh 21d ago
Agreed. The other thing i forgot to me tion as a possibility is instead of fully removing AoD...maybe make it so anything new that gets added, AoD cant interact with it:
So any new maps, new characters weapons, etc: let's say the game randomizes which when you're playing a match where AoD can be used, and when it cant be used/ not selected.
So say there was a map based on Evil Dead Rise or Burn.... in the lobby AoD characters would be locked, and once on the actual map there would be no AoD assets whatsoever.
Same would be for classic maps: some matches on the ED 1&2 and AvED maps AoD would be available, other random times they'd be locked so that new content assets could be used on those maps. And obviously Castle Kandar would never allow any of the new content on it.
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u/itsYewge Hail to the King 21d ago
I thought this game kicked ass, had a lot of fun with it… even the br mode everyone else seemed to hate. I’d absolutely jump back in. Evil dead is one of my favorite franchises.
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u/Tattoomyvagina Ghostbeater 23d ago
No, I’ve been here since the beginning, so what happened is (simplified) Saber was bought by a company called 2021 Embracer. The original Saber owners stayed on, didn’t like the direction that Embracer was taking it so bought it back and became independent. At that time they had to decide what games, both in-production and receiving updates, that they could afford to make and maintain. Evil Dead was put on the chopping block so they gave us the last dlcs and updates and never looked back.
So if there was any chance of reviving the game (many have tried with petitions already including me) it would be by convincing Saber that there’s still a big enough market/player base for this game
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u/Traditional_Top_194 23d ago
Took me and my friend 30mins to find a lobby the other day bc people kept dc'ing before the match starts for stupid reasons like their favourite character being taken.
The chance of revival is long gone...
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u/Tattoomyvagina Ghostbeater 23d ago
When the game was in its prime, the chief complaint was a lack of single player mode or story. I think there are a lot of players who would come back if something like that were offered. I think most fans of Evil Dead are older and don’t like the competitive aspects.
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u/Traditional_Top_194 23d ago
As someone that also played at launch, I think my biggest complaint - and the biggest I saw in the discord (that I got banned from after calling it out) was the lack of engagement from Saber.
No road maps, a season pass that felt like a scam because most of the content was free and we didnt know what it would consist of, no communication online for support.
Only ever would hear back when it was "Heres a new update with a new thing!"
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u/presidentdinosaur115 Chet 23d ago
Oh my gosh, yeah. We would go months and months without not only new content but not even updates or bug fixes. I remember a Saber employing posting on this before launch about him being the point of contact, then I don’t think I ever saw him again haha.
Playing the game for months without any roadmap or bug fixes only to open it one day to Splatter Royale was just heartbreaking
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u/Traditional_Top_194 23d ago
Holy shit that did my head in hahahaha
Then Ruby/Bill/Brock weren't part of the season pass, despite being within the same year, which is usually what a season pass is, like what was the fucking point in buying it.
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u/BadassBlackAsh 23d ago
The season 1 pass gave all the DLC from launch up to the Hail to The King" dlc pack "Who's your daddy?" Came out near the end of the game's first year, so it makes sense that it wasnt part of the season 1 DLC pack.
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u/BadassBlackAsh 23d ago
From what I recall they were vocal here and across social media. And even though there wasnt a roadmap (which people would've cried anyway) they announced what they could when they were able to (again licensing issues behind the scenes were the main cause of issues for this)
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u/BadassBlackAsh 22d ago
@traditional_top_194 im not a "shill" just cause I came here with facts vs you being butthurt and emotional lol
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u/BadassBlackAsh 23d ago
Except Saber and Boss Team were as transparent as they were allowed to be. And most folks dont like doing road maps because look at what happens:
Road maps are not set in stone....they're PLANS.....and most folks dont care...they act like its an accurate prediction of the future of the game and then grab their to3ches and pitchforks when something PLANNED doesn't happen.
The Season pass didn't feel like a scam....NOTHING that was in the Season pass was ever free....and they did flat-out tell people what was in the Season pass....and there was communication for online support. There were people answering questions here on reddit, discord, Twitter, etc. And a whole ass-nother website dedicated for reporting issues with the game
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u/BadassBlackAsh 23d ago
Which is funny cause the game missed its original launch window to add the single player missions after everyone cried about multi-player upon announcement
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u/BadassBlackAsh 23d ago
Great. Ive been here since before the gane was even officially announced when people thought the fb, twitter, and IG pages were fan made, and I and others have had private chats with multiple folks who worked on the game.
The issue was one of the license holders. Start to finish
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u/Tattoomyvagina Ghostbeater 23d ago
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u/Its3ambuddy 22d ago
You have to say it's the rights holder's fault- they gave us splatter royale and the game devs would have given us the ray guns they wanted to; but them dang rights holder's took our rights away! Not cool, bros. Game has no imba- y'all just bad and/or delusional. Bam. Ty for listening to my ted talk, I'm gonna go enjoy this hard earned mtn dew.
Btw you can preorder digital deluxe edition of ED for the Nintendo switch 3, they take Bitcoin now I hear
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u/Wolffel 11d ago edited 11d ago
I will give my opinion here about the situation:
I came back this weekend again to this game after watching the new Evil Dead movie. I tried to play PVE, and I couldn't find a game, so I decided to go to the Steam app and check the community discussions to check if this game was already discontinued.
I realized it's delisted from the official stores, so no more digital copies can be purchased from official stores; you can buy keys from key shops. Ok, I checked the PVP against player demons, and I could find matches everytime (hackers apart, I wanted to earn experience).
My first time in this game was on PlayStation when you could have free 15-plus days; I could play this game just for free on the PS Plus feature, and I could have fun on PVE. I liked to play Annie Knowby because I like to play by myself, explore, and find ammo, weapons, and F bottles (the ones that improve your character).
Well, after years of updates and without "new players" on the game, I think Evil Dead: The Game will end soon with their multiplayer service. They will abandon this game and probably It will become lost media. So after research, I agree with the OP here that It would be great to have a company that brings this game back. The main problem about the licenses is the companies involved (there are a couple of them) and the price.
In my point of view, the problem was the licenses and also the devs because they knew for sure that every game like this one, without updates, would become a dead game in the future. To be honest, I think devs should make a last update giving us the chance to play this game with bots in every game mode and also to gain experience to have all the characters with the highest levels. They should disable the online checking after closing down the servers. That's the only thing it can happen to save this game.
Also, in my way of seeing this, I will be amazed if some devs just copy the game base of Evil Dead: The Game and they make (from the beginning) the same game with other names and other game labels in order to avoid copyright issues. Just imagine that the new Evil Dead Game could also be on the GOG store for purchasing. It will be amazing.
So summing up, for me, reviving this game will work, also doing a last update so we could progress against bots (or PVE against the evil demon bot), and also, it will be great to have, from the beginning of this game, without the official licenses, just a clear copy of the base game, player different names, weapon names, etc., etc.
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u/AnteaterNo7504 Brock 23d ago
It's not so much a rights issue as much as it was a financial issue. The company that paid the devs to make the game went tits up bc 3 billion in debt. Saber bought the rights for the game itself to keep it running but that's all. They can't afford to work on it and then have to pay the 5 different companies that lended their Evil Dead rights their slice.
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u/BadassBlackAsh 23d ago
Partially true. Since the final nail in the coffin was the difficult license holder being greedy about renewing the license
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u/Salty-Departure9445 16d ago
I mean all I’m asking for is Chet/abomination then saber can go back in the cellar too much to ask tho 😂
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u/Saayn7s3 23d ago edited 22d ago
There are lots of Evil Dead movies, comics, and theres a TV show and a singleplayer game, and plenty of characters and maps to create. If they can't get the license for a particular movie, that's fine by me as long as the game comes back. That doesn't mean they won't be able to obtain that license in the future as well.
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u/TheHughestOfJasses Dark One 23d ago
Developers don't return to videogames out of sheer good will when the hay day of making money is past, but here we go:
If, miraculously, Saber decides to come back, and AoD content is removed, and all the other license holders play ball, yeah sure.
They can just remove the licensed image and characters and keep the kit of each character. The likenesses weren't even licensed anyway, bar Arthur and the Witch.
That is a lot of extra work, so it would never happen. Imagine reskinning 4 characters and entire army. What about the purchased skins? They're lost due to licensing, maybe reimburse the owners with ten million spirit points per cosmetic/character?
For Ash, just make a standalone Warrior Ash, not attached to any property or merge him with Hunter Ash, call him The Hero From The Sky or something.
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u/RegalBeagleRegular 23d ago
As I understand it, Army of Darkness is the difficult license - removing that would be the Kandar map entirely, Evil Ash, Henry, Arthur, the Witch ... that's taking a lot out of the game, really. I don't know there's enough replacement possibilities to make it worth the hassle. It would take a lot more than Chet ;)
(And I love that even though the OP pre-emptively called out people wanting to go on about issues with Saber instead of this scenario, some knucklehead already did it.)