For those old timers out there, I thought you might be interested in this news story about the potential rebirth of classic space trading videogame, Elite.

For you young 'uns, Elite was a game in which you travel from planet to planet, trading materials and goods. You could act within the law, or engage in acts of piracy. You could carry out mercenary work. You could war with alien races. In fact if there was ever a videogame which was close in spirit to Rogue Trader, it's this one.

The graphics are laughably primitive now, but the core gameplay mechanic was very solid, and the size of the in-game universe (largely procedurally generated) was vast, especially given that the computers of the day were hundreds of times less powerful than the average modern mobile telephone. 

Last time I mentioned Elite, some years ago, Andy Hoare (of GW fame) popped into the forum to mention what a fan of the system he was. Given that the creators of Elite are looking for funding to resurrect the game, wouldn't it be a dream collaboration for the original Elite Programmers to work with GW and FFG to produce a Rogue Trader game set in the 40k universe with the core mechanics of the old Elite game? 

One can dream, I suppose!

That would be awesome, but unfortunately, the license for making 40K games is already taken. 

I'm no expert on licensing, I must admit…but isn't it possible for more than one licence to be issued? (Unless the original contract issuing the licence specified that the licensee is the only party authorised to produced licensed games I guess, thinking it through. But I don't see why GW would agree to such an exclusive arrangement.)

Haven't there been simultaneous (or roughly simultaneous) games set within the GW IP from different companies on different formats?

Anyway, I accept it's almost certainly a pipe dream on my part…   

If I recall correctly, the license is held by publisher THQ, which contract with various developers to create games based on the GW IP.

For example, Relic is the developer for the Dawn of War series, but someone else is making the Online game. But the devs. are making this for THQ, who is the only one who can legally sell it.

THQ could pay someone to develop some Elite-like game, unless it was already covered by the scop of contract it has with one of its existing devs. I'm no expert, so this might all be hogwash :)

Seeing how I was once set to become an Elite Trader, so much so that 2 weeks later I got busted for forgetting that school required u to attend or they send out the trudant officer.

I would love to see it come back!!

Lightbringer said:

I'm pretty sure the licence issued to THQ is an exclusive licence, and they then contract the developers to make the games. GW wouldn't legally be allowed to issue another licence if that is the case, so you'd have to get THQ to contract the Elite guys to make that game, rather than GW.

A lot of game companies/producers won't get involved into IP licencing unless it's an exclusive licence, as another person having a licence would mean competition, and also severely devalues a licence.

Didn't THQ just hit a spot of financial trouble/fold?

Yep, but they still hold the licence, which means that, unless something happens that means they have it removed from them, they'd still be the ones to talk to about getting an Elite-style 40k game.

I think they also had a buyer lined up already to keep the company going, not sure though.