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zodoz
02-08-2013, 04:56 AM
Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone knew whether Sierra's Birthright:TGA is "abandonware" at this point? I realize this is an extremely old, obscure game {except to the chosen few ;] }

If it is considered abandonware, would it be alright to upload the game to the Downloads area?

Thanks,

Zodoz

Vicente
02-08-2013, 06:23 AM
It is not abandonware sadly. You can buy it more or less easily second-hand.

AndrewTall
02-08-2013, 06:24 PM
I don't think that Sierra's lawyers recognise the concept of abandonware :p

Sierra decided not to roll out the 2nd and third BR D&D games (my understanding was that they had the right to do 3 games) as the expected number of sales per game was below their target.

My (based entirely on unsubstantiated rumours) understanding was that although Sierra weren't interested in doing anything with TGA they didn't want to let anyone else do anything with it either which may be why it isn't up on Gog.com or any similar site (if anyone knows where it can legally be downloaded please let me know, my versions don't work with all the patches after 1.3).

Kami
02-08-2013, 07:43 PM
I would think that the rights and licenses would have moved to Vivendi and then to Activision (or Activision Blizzard) when they were purchased, so these days the decision is probably more likely up to them. I have little faith in Activision doing anything with anything, but I've seen other Sierra titles come out on GOG. Even Leisure Suit Larry is on there now, although those rights were bought by Replay Games.

As I understand it, Abandonware is also not a true legal concept in the U.S. and therefore whenever the rights holder decides to take action they probably can. "[N]o software written since 1964 is old enough for copyright to have expired in the US." Please correct me if I'm wrong on that. My source is Wikipedia, and I'm not a lawyer, so take that with a grain of salt.

According to Tim Schafer, "Is it piracy? Yeah, sure. But so what?"

Blastin
02-09-2013, 04:27 PM
I would also love to get another copy of the game (mine became toast in a fire), so if anyone knows a place to get it, that would be great.

AndrewTall
02-09-2013, 08:29 PM
I would also love to get another copy of the game (mine became toast in a fire), so if anyone knows a place to get it, that would be great.

I just checked amazon and ebay and both of them had copies available - unless it does go on gog.com someday they are probably your best bets.