So the inevitable paid DLC is a thing now and (at least to me) surprisingly enough it doesn't tickle our imagination or expand the game's diversity at all. On the contrary, it goes the IP route with established franchises from non-Frontier parties. Disappointment aside, this concerns me for various reasons.
First of all, the licensed props are so specific and inflexible that you are very limited to what you can do with it. This makes sense since it should be recognizable from the source material, but it does mean that everybody's blueprint and parks will quickly start to look samey. This was already a concern of mine with the overly specific props like the Witch House, Paddle Steamer and that Set of Flags (sorry, I can't shut up about that abomination) but instead of aiming for more flexibility, Frontier just turned the creative hand-holding up to eleven.
Secondly, I think it is a shame that Frontier had to resort to existing IP to sell their product. Their designers have proven to be more than capable of coming up with their own excellent characters, fictitious brands and of course the whole PlanCo language and script. Hey, even the in-universe music is based on the game's catchy theme song with (sometimes not so) subtle references to famous musical scores without getting into legal trouble (The Dark Coaster Approaches being the most obvious and genius one!). I think it is quite insulting to the creators of this content to "lazily" buy existing IP instead.
My third concern is the biggest one. Namely the fact that we now have Licensed™ ContentⓇ in the game (Ⓒ 2017), and since we have to pay for it, it cannot be considered sponsored content or advertisement. All bets are off now, regarding copyrights and Blueprints. User content or mods in video games based on copyrighted material have always been a gray area. It is not legit per se, but IP Holders will usually tolerate this since it doesn't really affect their income and any lawsuit or C&D Order will create way more outcry than it is worth.
Back to the wonderful Planet of Coaster, what will this mean for the countless Blueprints that were more than just a little bit "inspired" by real world structures, IP and characters? More specifically, Blueprints that mimic themes that are now (or will one day become) "official" content at a premium price? Workshop items that contain a DeLorean made out of regular Art Assets will probably become way more popular than Frontier's DLC since they are free. They can be considered "competitors" not only to paid content, but to copyrighted content as well. And the copyright owner is now perfectly aware of the existence of Planet Coaster's Workshop thanks to the licensing deal.
Of course we are (still) talking petty DLC packs of only a few bucks each right now, but how will this turn out in the long run? Will more licensed DLC arrive? More high-profile licenses like Universal or even Disney that are already a huge inspiration in today's Workshop? I am not afraid that Frontier will start a war on copyright infringement anytime soon, but I do think it is worth a discussion. As I stated, all bets ar off!
First of all, the licensed props are so specific and inflexible that you are very limited to what you can do with it. This makes sense since it should be recognizable from the source material, but it does mean that everybody's blueprint and parks will quickly start to look samey. This was already a concern of mine with the overly specific props like the Witch House, Paddle Steamer and that Set of Flags (sorry, I can't shut up about that abomination) but instead of aiming for more flexibility, Frontier just turned the creative hand-holding up to eleven.
Secondly, I think it is a shame that Frontier had to resort to existing IP to sell their product. Their designers have proven to be more than capable of coming up with their own excellent characters, fictitious brands and of course the whole PlanCo language and script. Hey, even the in-universe music is based on the game's catchy theme song with (sometimes not so) subtle references to famous musical scores without getting into legal trouble (The Dark Coaster Approaches being the most obvious and genius one!). I think it is quite insulting to the creators of this content to "lazily" buy existing IP instead.
My third concern is the biggest one. Namely the fact that we now have Licensed™ ContentⓇ in the game (Ⓒ 2017), and since we have to pay for it, it cannot be considered sponsored content or advertisement. All bets are off now, regarding copyrights and Blueprints. User content or mods in video games based on copyrighted material have always been a gray area. It is not legit per se, but IP Holders will usually tolerate this since it doesn't really affect their income and any lawsuit or C&D Order will create way more outcry than it is worth.
Back to the wonderful Planet of Coaster, what will this mean for the countless Blueprints that were more than just a little bit "inspired" by real world structures, IP and characters? More specifically, Blueprints that mimic themes that are now (or will one day become) "official" content at a premium price? Workshop items that contain a DeLorean made out of regular Art Assets will probably become way more popular than Frontier's DLC since they are free. They can be considered "competitors" not only to paid content, but to copyrighted content as well. And the copyright owner is now perfectly aware of the existence of Planet Coaster's Workshop thanks to the licensing deal.
Of course we are (still) talking petty DLC packs of only a few bucks each right now, but how will this turn out in the long run? Will more licensed DLC arrive? More high-profile licenses like Universal or even Disney that are already a huge inspiration in today's Workshop? I am not afraid that Frontier will start a war on copyright infringement anytime soon, but I do think it is worth a discussion. As I stated, all bets ar off!
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