The Star Control feud is over and bees have a lot to do with it
Yep, you read that right.
Whoever would have thought bees would help settle a long-running feud? Well they have and, "honestly and truly", the creators of Star Control, and Stardock, are finally getting along.
Who owns what trademark and copyright, and so on, has all been cleared up. Moreover, the creators of Star Control and Star Control 2, Paul Reiche and Fred Ford, will now work with Stardock - creator of Star Control: Origins - on making a brand new Star Control game. Work begins this autumn.
A couple of months ago, this would have been unheard of. Reiche and Ford, and Starock boss Brad Wardell, were at loggerheads about who owned Star Control and everything it entailed - we wrote a feature last year about the big Star Control tussle.
Options for resolution had run dry, according to Reiche and Ford, writing on their website. Lawyers weren't confident of a win, a court-managed settlement hadn't worked and mediation was a flop as well. "So we decided to throw a bit of a Hail Mary pass and just call Brad Wardell directly..." And bees were the first thing they talked about.
You see, Paul Reiche has, self-admittedly, "a life-long dream of learning every medieval villager skill" - a dream I can totally get down with! - and raising bees, and making honey and meade, maybe while whistling a happy song (that's what I would do), is a part of it. And don't you just know it: Brad Wardell keeps bees.
"So when we called Brad Wardell my first sentence was something like, 'Before I start talking about settling our legal conflict, I'd like to talk about bees,'" said Reiche - and so they did.
In fact, they've even - literally - written bees into their settlement, the terms of which are openly discussed and involve no money changing hands.
"There is a weird paragraph in the agreement that involves bees," reads a bullet-point summary on Reiche and Ford's website. "Seriously - no kidding.
"Brad Wardell is giving Fred and Paul honey from his hives and Paul is giving Brad some bottles of his homemade mead. Brad will also be giving Paul advice in how not to be stung.
"This goes to show you can find common ground in the strangest (and most delicious) of places."
Well I'll bee.
Specifi terms can be found on Reiche and Ford's website.