The language seems pretty specific, apparently the original patent was too generic to be granted. I'm curious what the implications of that are -- I also felt like (for all of its praise) the original system was far too generic to be patented.
If their new patent is so specific that it basically doesn't apply to competitors, then maybe this won't have much of an impact. On the other hand, if this is just a way for WB to get their foot in the door and now they are going to start shaking down smaller devs or competitors -- I'm not sure.
In general, I tend to be pretty skeptical of these things. I think 14 years is too long of a duration to have exclusive control over a video game mechanic, I think the industry works better when games can build on each other. I haven't seen any evidence, at all, that game mechanic patents are necessary to spur game innovation. The indie scene doesn't use them, and it is far more creative than any of the games coming out of WB.
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[ 0.23 ms ] story [ 14.4 ms ] threadThe language seems pretty specific, apparently the original patent was too generic to be granted. I'm curious what the implications of that are -- I also felt like (for all of its praise) the original system was far too generic to be patented.
If their new patent is so specific that it basically doesn't apply to competitors, then maybe this won't have much of an impact. On the other hand, if this is just a way for WB to get their foot in the door and now they are going to start shaking down smaller devs or competitors -- I'm not sure.
In general, I tend to be pretty skeptical of these things. I think 14 years is too long of a duration to have exclusive control over a video game mechanic, I think the industry works better when games can build on each other. I haven't seen any evidence, at all, that game mechanic patents are necessary to spur game innovation. The indie scene doesn't use them, and it is far more creative than any of the games coming out of WB.