this post was submitted on 10 May 2025
400 points (99.5% liked)
RetroGaming
23860 readers
420 users here now
Vintage gaming community.
Rules:
- Be kind.
- No spam or soliciting for money.
- No racism or other bigotry allowed.
- Obviously nothing illegal.
If you see these please report them.
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
So the decompilation project created a bunch of interest and now Lego will capitalize on their tremendous effort because they own the IP and can shit out a port? awesome, super fair
No. The code was discovered by a person who used to work on it back in the day. They don't give it out, unless the decompilers have the permission to get it from the original rights owner. It's however unclear who owns the rights. They tried to get the permission but all three companies that might own it, didn't even answer.
And yet, if they ever did release it, you can bet all three companies would C&D it.
Lego is actually one of the very few companies that isn't batshit crazy over video game IP. (Real life Lego clones are probably different though).
They even gave a shout out to Manic Miners (a rock raiders fan remake) on the official podcast and haven't done anything to take it down. I can't remember if they officially said they won't do anything also
Let's give The LEGO Group some credit, They allow fan-made projects all the time. They even allowed a fan-made BIONICLE game onto Steam. They also allow the hosting of out of print LEGO video games.
Nevermind, they just c&d'd the BIONICLE fan game. Talk about bad timing. Fuck The LEGO Group after all.
Lets hope they never get bought out by Nintendo or similar....
They actually also hired the guy who made Manic Miners.
Interestingly LEGO was patented, and that patent has recently expired.
If the company used a Trademark to protect the system they used, it would still be protected.
Well they did shut down the Lego Universe reboot. Also Lego most certainly is batshit crazy when it comes to fighting other brick manufacturers and sellers. Just like any capitalist company they are afraid of losing ANY marketshare.