The End.
...no, we didn't magically finish the project overnight.
I have bad news. Warcraft Tales is not going to happen, at least for now. While we are in keeping with the World of Warcraft addon policy, Blizzard’s legal department see the project as being a 3rd party game expansion, and therefore have decided to ask that I shut it down. A full video will come out on my channel within the next day to address this development.
I had been confident in our legal position due to the president set by the Starcraft Universe Kickstarter, given the publicity Blizzard gave it, but they do have the ultimate say, and the right to do what they want with their IP.
SC:U did have trouble getting off the ground, but was able to negotiate a tenable position with Blizzard. I will peruse that with them privately. Most importantly, I ask that no-one goes after any Blizzard employee. From what I tell the developers seemed to like the project, so getting to them isn’t going to help anyone, especially since they’re busy delivering a new patch.
I am sorry that I got people excited for a project that ultimately will not exist, at least in it’s current form. Your support was overwhelming, truly one of the most memorable things to happen to me. I won’t forget that. While this particular project wasn’t able to see the light of day, the future holds plenty of promise.
For now, I hope that you enjoy Patch 7.2. I have a lot of content on the way over the next few weeks. World of Warcraft continues to be genuinely exciting, especially since we know what the future holds (ARGUS HYPE!).
There is no bad blood between myself and Blizzard – this is simply something that ended up not working for both parties.
Thank you for everything,
Michael
PS - The Patreon has been paused, so no-one will be charged. I'll get things cleaned up tomorrow, but it's really late here and I need to get some sleep to do the announcement video for this on the channel.
Comments (20)
it would be a real shame if some rogue member of your rag-tag team were to leak it... wouldn't it?
Hehe, I like how you think. But it wouldn't be in the interests of the community, and would just waste everyones time. I'll do a post-mortem of the project soon though on my channel, so you'll be able to see what we were planning.
The one time I patron something and it gets shut down :(. Anyway, hopefully this'll be salvageable somehow. I was definitely going to renew my WoW sub to experience the content in this new and immersive way. Hoping we can still get something similar and voice acted off the ground.
Because you would be paying some of your team for the work they do in a round about way that means a person would be making money from the Blizzard ip. That would be the part their legal team would not be happy with.
Nah they're good with donation supported addons, this is due to IP stuff.
Well, shoot. That was fun while it lasted. I appriciate your maturity and professionalism with dealing with all of this, thank you for being a good person, and I hope that one day in the future you get to create something like this <3
If this became the mainstream, that would make the leveling process so much more immersive. This would be able to attract more players and more than likely keep them subscribed. I don't understand how Blizzard doesn't see this as anything but beneficial.
A real shame. I was truly looking forward to using and supporting your addon. I never read quest text, so the addon was going to be a great way for me to learn a bit about the WoW story.
The only time I wanted to become a patron - fail.
Wow.... I didn't expect this to happen... I am very sad to see this project, you've so passionate about, get hammered down with Blizzards anti-fun attitude. It's hard for me not to be harsh towards them. 😔
😢
I was staying subbed for this. Hope you can work something out. Unsubbing in the meantime.
Am I missing something. In order to use the add on they would have to be getting my 15 dollars a month. They can only gain from this. When content gets stale I can stay subbed and use your add on and they get to keep me subscribed. I am sorry this did not work out for you, maybe they will realize this is good for them and will change their minds.
How disappointing. Thank you for your efforts Michael. I look forward to more excellent work
appreciate it guys <3. I'll do what I can behind the scenes, but I'd advise against expecting anything to come of it.
Is there anything, us as the community can do to try and support this project to show blizzard this needs to happen? Change. Org petition maybe....
This saddens me greatly, I have no words for blizzards legal team. Atleast non that are nice...
Man, what a colossal bummer. I hope you're able to convince them to allow you guys to move forward.
Quite sad. This project would have been a boon for all, I hope Blizzard allow it to continue in the future, preferably sooner rather then later.
Oh no! This is sad... I hope Blizzard decides that your project is also in their interest.