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Boulder Dash® 2022 release!


Andrew Davie

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Boulder Dash® has long been a favourite for many video game enthusiasts. It is one of the most successful and longest-running game titles, having appeared on many, many platforms over its 30+ year history, including the Atari 2600. Recently, BBG Entertainment purchased all rights to Boulder Dash®, starting a new chapter in the game’s history. In response to extremely high demand, BBG Entertainment, Thomas Jentzsch and Andrew Davie have agreed to a new release of the game - with improvements and bug fixes. These changes now having been completed, we are all very pleased to announce that the new improved version of Boulder Dash® for the Atari 2600 will be available early next year.

Edited by Thomas Jentzsch
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4 hours ago, Andrew Davie said:

Boulder Dash® has long been a favourite for many video game enthusiasts. It is one of the most successful and longest-running game titles, having appeared on many, many platforms over its 30+ year history, including the Atari 2600. Recently, BBG Entertainment purchased all rights to Boulder Dash®, starting a new chapter in the game’s history. In response to extremely high demand, BBG Entertainment, Thomas Jentzsch and Andrew Davie have agreed to a new release of the game - with improvements and bug fixes. These changes now having been completed, we are all very pleased to announce that the new improved version of Boulder Dash® for the Atari 2600 will be available early next year.

Awesome news. May I ask how you proceed to talk to the IP holders in such cases? Do you have to pay license fees? Are they interested at all? Because I would guess that a 2600 homebrew game will sell ... maybe a few hundred copies?

 

Looking forward to the release!

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8 minutes ago, root42 said:

Awesome news. May I ask how you proceed to talk to the IP holders in such cases? Do you have to pay license fees? Are they interested at all? Because I would guess that a 2600 homebrew game will sell ... maybe a few hundred copies?

 

Looking forward to the release!

You do it with respect and by showing absolute trustworthiness, building up a relationship over time. It took quite a few years for us to get the approval for the original Boulder Dash, and that involved working on the game while bound to very stringent requirements about what we could and couldn't show - and also with no guarantee of the game ever being approved for release. Likewise, with the new IP owner, we have been able to use that previous history to negotiate a new release.

 

Half the problem was solved, really, by approaching the IP owner and actually ASKING. Most do not do that. That is a good way to establish some initial contact. If they say NO, then really what's the point of proceeding?

Yes, we pay rather hefty license fees. That's fair enough - they are, after all, the owners of the IP. Without their significant financial investment in the IP/product, it wouldn't exist.  A few hundred copies is a good ballpark. I think that nobody involved in production, including the IP owners, will really see much take-home from this. Certainly not the programmers - I figured out at one stage years ago that my total income from this was about 5 cents per hour :P . --- In the case of the '2600, it's a labour of love for everyone - just to pay some love and respect to the old system.

Thomas and I are minimising any take-home for this release, so that we can drive the price down as far as we possibly can.



 

Edited by Andrew Davie
I didn't.
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I suppose you talk to the IP holders completely independently to the talks Elektronite have on the Intellivision side about releasing more copies of that port? At least BBG by now are fully aware about the interest from the retro gaming scene with at least two (what do I know, perhaps there are even more ports for other systems) parties in licensing talks.

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2 minutes ago, carlsson said:

I suppose you talk to the IP holders completely independently to the talks Elektronite have on the Intellivision side about releasing more copies of that port? At least BBG by now are fully aware about the interest from the retro gaming scene with at least two (what do I know, perhaps there are even more ports for other systems) parties in licensing talks.

 

Yes. You'd be surprised how many people independently contact IP owners asking/begging/pushing for releases.

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2 hours ago, root42 said:

Awesome news. May I ask how you proceed to talk to the IP holders in such cases? Do you have to pay license fees? Are they interested at all? Because I would guess that a 2600 homebrew game will sell ... maybe a few hundred copies?

 

Looking forward to the release!

The first run was 250, but with it coming up “short” of demand, I’m hoping the number will be higher this time. 
 

I am DEFINITELY in for this one, even though I have the original release as well. 

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2 hours ago, [d2f]Iggy*SJB said:

The first run was 250, but with it coming up “short” of demand, I’m hoping the number will be higher this time. 
 

I am DEFINITELY in for this one, even though I have the original release as well. 

The plan is for general sale. No limits.
We aim to preserve the desirability of the original. The new one won't be quite so fancy in terms of manual/box/contents.

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