Activision Sues Star Trek Over Franchise Decay

Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a press release announcing that Activision is suing Viacom for breach of contract over the Star Trek game license. The article summarizes Activion's complaints: "..through its actions and inactions, Viacom has let the once proud Star Trek franchise stagnate and decay", and furthermore that "..a continuing pipeline of movie and television production, and related marketing, is absolutely crucial to the success of video games based on a property such as Star Trek." Activision has terminated the contract agreement, and looks to recover damages and advances from Viacom - according to a Dow Jones story, "..the initial license agreement included $20 million in advance royalties and warrants, with additional payments to be based on game sales."

Comments

Alright viacom!

[AtariAmarok]

Viacom. Doing what angry Trekkies have wanted to do for years.

Re:Alright viacom!

[Otter]

I'm just surprised they're complaining about the lack of new Star Trek movies. You'd think each new movie further degrades the value of the franchise.

Quality of Games

[Gr33nNight]

Yeah, right Activision. And I'm sure making craptastic games had nothing to do with poor sales.

Riiiiight.

Star Wars anyone

[Mr.Dippy]

Now if we can get a lawsuit going on George Lucas then things will get interesting.

Mesa thinks de star wars franchise jumped the shark a long long time ago.

Re:It sounds like a legitimate gripe.

[ip_vjl]

I certainly hope someone at that company has the balls to say Nemesis sucked because we made it suck, and shop for a decent script for a new movie.

Viacom exec 1: Nemesis sucked because we made it suck.
Viacom exec 2: Nemesis sucked? But everybody thought the script was so good when we used it for Wrath of Khan.
Viacom exec 1: You're right. Maybe we went too far back.
Rick Berman ... too far back. Hey, that gives me an idea. Maybe in the next movie we could send the crew back in time to save some whales or something. No, been done. Monkeys! Yes. That'd be new and fresh.

They Are Alone...

[vjmurphy]

After the craptastic Star Trek: Nemesis and the lame Enterprise, Activision is actually the only entity that wants Viacom to make more Star Trek.

Activision sues Star Trek?

[lightspawn]

Man, I hope Star Trek gets a good lawyer, or the Enterprise might end up getting repo'ed.

Guys, can you change the title to something that makes sense?

Amazing!

[M.C. Hampster]

Activision are suing Viacom for breach of contract

I are flabberghasted!

New Star Trek Icon suggestion

[AtariAmarok]

Suggestion for a new "Star Trek Decay" icon: ....a still snapshot of "The Simpsons" episode where a very round Scotty was waving his arms and complaining that he was too fat to reach the controls.

Re:It sounds like a legitimate gripe.

[MaverickUW]

No no no, you got it wrong. You skipped a movie. The Enterprise is supposed to go back to that Nebula thing, find out that somehow when the Scimitar got destroyed with it's life-ending-weapon, that it created a new planet, and Data's body has been resurrected, and needs to transfer his mind out of B4 in order to remember who he is.

Duh! :)

Re:It sounds like a legitimate gripe.

[jafuser]

Monkeys! Yes. That'd be new and fresh.

(Lightbulb on!)

I'd pay full price and buy a LARGE popcorn and LARGE soda just to see an officially licensed movie which combined Star Trek and Planet of the Apes.

Wow.

They'd resurrect MST3k just for this one movie alone...