GOG Pulls Descent From Interplay Sale Over Licensing Dispute

GOG’s Interplay sale is generating a lot of heat; not because of the games included – MDK, Messiah, Stonekeep, and Lionheart all feature – but rather due to one missing name. First-person space shooter Descent (and its sequel) have been pulled from the sale due a dispute over its ownership.

According to a post on the GOG forum, the games’ copyright still belongs to developer Parallax Software. While Interplay, as the publisher of the two titles, still has the rights to sell them, but has failed to pay any royalties to Parallax since 2007, despite Descent and Descent II being available for purchase through both GOG and Steam during that period.

Matt Toschlog and Mike Kulas of Parallax Software wrote on the GOG forum:

Hey, Folks. Here’s the story. 

Parallax Software still exists and still owns the copyrights to the Descent games. Under our 21-year-old agreement, Interplay has the exclusive rights to sell Descent and Descent II, and they have been doing so on Good Old Games and Steam. 

The problem is that Interplay has not paid to Parallax any royalties since 2007. We’ve talked to them about this numerous times over the years, and finally took action this fall. We served Interplay official notice that they were in breach of the contract, and when they still failed to pay we terminated the agreement. 

This means that Interplay has lost the right to sell the Descent games, which is why they came down from GOG. (We’re not sure why they’re still on Steam; they shouldn’t be.) 

Interplay does, however, still own the Descent trademark, which they are free to use or license as they see fit (such as for Descent: Underground) as long as they don’t violate our copyrights. 

As for whether Descent and Descent II will be available for purchase again, we hope so. We’d be very happy to work things out with Interplay. 

While the dispute over royalties between Interplay and Parallax continues, GOG has pulled the game from sale.

Image courtesy of Desura.