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PC Gamer: All your Warcraft 3: Reforged custom games belong exclusively to Blizzard

Lukar

Lukar

Unshakable Resolve - Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 27, 2017
23,912
Blizzard really doesn't want a Dota 2 situation to happen again.


Chris Priestman from PC Gamer said:
A larger part of Blizzard's policy details how all ownership of custom games in Reforged belongs to Blizzard and not the creators. That means Blizzard can do whatever it wants with any custom games, which includes removing them completely if the content is deemed inappropriate. This is also a pretty standard policy.

However, where Blizzard has gone a bit further than other policies, including those written up by Epic Games and Riot, is having instant and total copyright ownership of all custom games. What that means is any custom game made in Warcraft 3: Reforged cannot be replicated anywhere else. This gives Blizzard the power to shut down any standalone versions of custom games made in Reforged.

This move is perhaps not too surprising given that a couple of Warcraft III custom games went on to become some of the most successful games of all time. Blizzard got nothing while the likes of Riot and Valve took the ideas and made big money. With this new policy, if the next Dota 2 is made inside Warcraft 3: Reforged, Blizzard would have full ownership of it and the profits.
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The Custom Game Acceptable Use Policy referenced in the article:


Blizzard said:
Custom Games are and shall remain the sole and exclusive property of Blizzard. Without limiting the foregoing, you hereby assign to Blizzard all of your rights, title, and interest in and to all Custom Games, including but not limited to any copyrights in the content of any Custom Games. If for any reason you are prevented or restricted from assigning any rights in the Custom Games to Blizzard, you grant to Blizzard an exclusive, perpetual, worldwide, unconditional, royalty free, irrevocable license enabling Blizzard to fully exploit the Custom Games (or any component thereof) for any purpose and in any manner whatsoever. You further agree that should Blizzard decide that it is necessary, you will execute any future assignments and/or related documents promptly upon receiving such a request from Blizzard in order to effectuate the intent of this paragraph. To the extent you are prohibited from transferring or assigning your moral rights to Blizzard by applicable laws, to the utmost extent legally permitted, you waive any moral rights or similar rights you may have in all such Custom Games, without any remuneration. Without limiting Blizzard's rights or ownership in the Custom Games, Blizzard reserves the right, in its sole and absolute discretion, to remove Custom Games from its systems and/or require that a Custom Game developer cease any and/or all development and distribution of a Custom Game. Please note that your Blizzard account can be subject to disciplinary action in event that you do not comply with Blizzard's request or this Policy.
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I understand why Blizzard would do this after how they [feel that they] were burned by Dota 2, but it's pretty shitty, if you ask me. Even if the custom content was made in their game, it isn't their direct creation, and they shouldn't be able to have automatic ownership over it. I also understand this is how several games handle custom content (at least I believe so; my memory could be wrong), but that doesn't make it any less crappy in my eyes.
 
Rokal

Rokal

Member
Oct 25, 2017
510
IIRC they did the exact same thing in Starcraft 2 which is one of many reasons that the custom map scene didn't take off in that game. This is scummy as hell but nothing new.
 
bevishead

bevishead

Member
Jan 9, 2018
885
So basically they are trying to ensure they own the rights to another popular game that might come out of one of their games, like DOTA.
 
Big-E

Big-E

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Oct 25, 2017
3,169
They have no one to blame but themselves with DotA. They should have bought the devs right away instead of just letting it sit. Now they try and pull this? Valve and Riot were way quicker on the draw with Auto Chess.

EDIT: They were not burned by DotA 2. They fucked up by doing nothing. They had the chance to do something with it and chose not too and only got in when it was too late.
 
Goat Mimicry

Goat Mimicry

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
1,920
Rokal said:
IIRC they did the exact same thing in Starcraft 2 which is one of many reasons that the custom map scene didn't take off in that game. This is scummy as hell but nothing new.
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They wouldn't even let a guy name his map "World of Starcraft" or something similar, he had to have a back and forth discussion before he was able to put it back up.

I just find that whole mindset from them hilarious. What happened with DotA was 100% their own fault. They made no attempts to court the creators or the person who popularized it. If Valve hadn't made it, there would be no real DotA game now because the people at Blizzard still wouldn't have even considered it themselves.
 
Richietto

Richietto

One Winged Slayer
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Oct 25, 2017
23,339
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Spoopy Boatington said:
They wouldn't even let a guy name his map "World of Starcraft" or something similar, he had to have a back and forth discussion before he was able to put it back up.

I just find that whole mindset from them hilarious. What happened with DotA was 100% their own fault. They made no attempts to court the creators or the person who popularized it. If Valve hadn't made it, there would be no real DotA game now because the people at Blizzard still wouldn't have even considered it themselves.
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For real. Wasn't until Valve came out with Dota that Blizzard fuckin cared at all.
 
the_wart

the_wart

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Oct 25, 2017
2,278
I don't see how this would be enforceable. You can't claim ownership of a set of rules. Right...? Any independent game spun off of a custom W3 game would have to differentiate its assets, characters, branding, etc, but surely they can't prevent people from replicating the structure of the game.
 
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Lukar

Lukar

Unshakable Resolve - Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 27, 2017
23,912
Big-E said:
EDIT: They were not burned by DotA 2. They fucked up by doing nothing. They had the chance to do something with it and chose not too and only got in when it was too late.
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Just to be clear: I agree with you. That's why I worded it as "they feel that they were burned" instead of just "they were burned". It was their own fault.

the_wart said:
I don't see how this would be enforceable. You can't claim ownership of a set of rules. Right...? Any independent game spun off of a custom W3 game would have to differentiate its assets, characters, branding, etc, but surely they can't prevent people from replicating the structure of the game.
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I wonder this as well. I'd have to imagine that it isn't enforceable. If another Dota 2 situation were to happen, maybe the name of the new game would need to be something wholly different from that of the mod, but even then, I'm not sure.

To me, this just seems like Blizzard trying to put pressure on its community, whether it holds up in court or not.
 
HylianSeven

HylianSeven

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Oct 25, 2017
19,488
Big-E said:
They have no one to blame but themselves with DotA. They should have bought the devs right away instead of just letting it sit. Now they try and pull this? Valve and Riot were way quicker on the draw with Auto Chess.

EDIT: They were not burned by DotA 2. They fucked up by doing nothing. They had the chance to do something with it and chose not too and only got in when it was too late.
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Even then with Auto Chess, it's STILL not owned by Valve at all.


Drodo Studio (the developer of the Auto Chess custom game) made their own mobile game version of Auto Chess with generic characters, but they function exactly the same as the Dota version. Valve flew them into their offices and were not able to collaborate on a game together, but they were still making their own game and Valve got their blessing to make their own version of Auto Chess, which is what we now know as Dota Underlords.
 

Deleted member 20831

Banned
Oct 28, 2017
1,951
I guess its time for modders to abandon Warcraft 3, because they can 100% be assured that they will have trouble replicating their work outside Warcraft 3 now!?
 
Acinixys

Acinixys

Banned
Nov 15, 2017
913
So petty

I refuse to believe Blizzard would have taken DotA and made it into the standalone, 1 million players a day mega e-sport that Valve pioneered

It would be a poorly run, never updated and extremely stale nothing game, with no explosive game changing patches, just like Overwatch
 
Big-E

Big-E

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Oct 25, 2017
3,169
HylianSeven said:
Even then with Auto Chess, it's STILL not owned by Valve at all.


Drodo Studio (the developer of the Auto Chess custom game) made their own mobile game version of Auto Chess with generic characters, but they function exactly the same as the Dota version. Valve flew them into their offices and were not able to collaborate on a game together, but they were still making their own game and Valve got their blessing to make their own version of Auto Chess, which is what we now know as Dota Underlords.
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I know that. Valve didn't just sit by and do nothing. They were active and ended up going in their own direction. Blizzard must of known that people were playing their game to play one game and it wasn't War 3 multiplayer. They did absolutely nothing and only got mad when it was clear that Valve had something in DOTA 2.
 

Deleted member 2840

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
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I'm more annoyed that you can't have more "copyrighted" maps apparently. So bye bye all the thousands of anime maps.
I just want to play DBZ Tribute Ultra again
 
Conkerkid11

Conkerkid11

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Oct 25, 2017
14,068
Big-E said:
They have no one to blame but themselves with DotA. They should have bought the devs right away instead of just letting it sit. Now they try and pull this? Valve and Riot were way quicker on the draw with Auto Chess.

EDIT: They were not burned by DotA 2. They fucked up by doing nothing. They had the chance to do something with it and chose not too and only got in when it was too late.
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That's always been one of Blizzard's fundamental flaws. They're slow as all hell, and they appear to be getting worse over time.
 
Big-E

Big-E

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Oct 25, 2017
3,169
Conkerkid11 said:
That's always been one of Blizzard's fundamental flaws. They're slow as all hell, and they appear to be getting worse over time.
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The slowness was always attributed to taking the time to make sure the game is good above all. Being beyond slow to acknowledge that the majority of your playerbase is playing your game for a mod is not really something that should be defended. People are making it sound like Valve stepped in right away and pulled the rug from under them. DotA was big for years.
 
GenericBadGuy

GenericBadGuy

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Oct 25, 2017
1,381
As far as "copyright" maps go, is Blizz removing them one by one when reported or have some sort of detection in place? There's a bajillion versions of maps out there so seems unlikely they would be able to get them all, as shitty as this is what it has come to.
 
Aesthet1c

Aesthet1c

Member
Oct 27, 2017
938
Man I used to love Blizzard, but more and more they keep doing scummy shit like this. Blizzard of the 90's and 2000's really is dead.
 
Yogi

Yogi

Banned
Nov 10, 2019
1,806
Custom games were the best thing about WC3(TFT) for me. If they aren't even going to be any good this just seals skipping out on WC3 Renothing'd, even with a 50% price drop.
 
Conkerkid11

Conkerkid11

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
14,068
Big-E said:
The slowness was always attributed to taking the time to make sure the game is good above all. Being beyond slow to acknowledge that the majority of your playerbase is playing your game for a mod is not really something that should be defended. People are making it sound like Valve stepped in right away and pulled the rug from under them. DotA was big for years.
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The slowness is attributed to their games going through developer hell and getting completely thrown away most of the time.

MindofKB said:
They're not letting the next DotA slip through their fingers.
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There's not gonna be a next DotA with this policy.

They already missed out on battle royal and auto chess.
 
eonden

eonden

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,187
MindofKB said:
I think they'll monitor custom games and build upon whichever one starts getting big.
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I think he means that most of the big work for custom maps will not happen there because of this policy, as modders will not feel comfortable with it. It happened with Starcraft 2 already (and well Starcraft 2 also had worse tools I guess).
 
wrongway

wrongway

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Oct 27, 2017
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jXO9weS.jpg
 
Anoregon

Anoregon

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Oct 25, 2017
14,311
eonden said:
I think he means that most of the big work for custom maps will not happen there because of this policy, as modders will not feel comfortable with it. It happened with Starcraft 2 already (and well Starcraft 2 also had worse tools I guess).
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God they botched the custom map scene in SC2 so bad. I can't tell you many hours I put into custom games in the original starcraft and Warcraft 3, but I doubt I put more than a few hours into anything in Starcraft 2. Their need to control everything and make it some arcadey experience was such a bad decision.
 
SubvertedTrope

SubvertedTrope

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Sep 14, 2018
4,678
If Blizzard was the dev behind dota it would not be half the game it is now. It'd be watered down garbage, they really can't balance for shit, and their design philosophies are lowest common denominator crap, they are not a good dev anymore.
 
Vitet

Vitet

Member
Oct 31, 2017
2,574
Valencia, Spain
I don't know about US, but here on artistic creations, the moral rights are unrefusable and non transferable. How are they going to deal with this?
 
eonden

eonden

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,187
Vitet said:
I don't know about US, but here on artistic creations, the moral rights are unrefusable and non transferable. How are they going to deal with this?
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With the "we will sue you and good luck with being able to pay for the legal fees until you win" strategy. Same thing that would happen if you challengue any other EULA which have been deemed non binding by EU courts already.
 

real2

Member
Jan 31, 2019
366
I don't remember if this was in SC2's terms of use, but the custom game scene never took off for it and it was really disappointing.

But yeah, old Blizzard is dead and they won't be seeing a dollar from me ever again sadly.
 
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