The Secret Deal – When two giants (don’t) go to war?
July 22, 2010 by warzan
Kotaku has an article up that most of you guys will at the very least find interesting.
http://kotaku.com/5591285/before-starcraft-there-was-warhammer-40k
In the article they show some comparisons between the main protagonists in Starcraft with those in Warhammer 40K and the obvious similarities between them.
But is this really just a case of one company owing a ‘visual debt’ to another, or is something a little more complex at play?
Facts about the relationship between Blizzard Entertainment and GamesWorkshop are not exactly easy to get (at least anything official that is), but what Kotaku didn’t explore (deeply enough) is the fact that these two giants (of their own industries) have had a very ‘interesting’ history.
The basics as far as we can tell (and we could be wrong as we have never been able to get the ‘official’ story on this) is that in the early days of GW’s licensing attempts they may have been a little more naive than they are now. Blizzard we’re working on a game using GW Intellectual Property (i.e. the visuals and fluff that we all love so much), somewhere during that process there was a falling out and Blizzard went off and made ‘some’ changes and rolled out Warcraft (we believe this was the title they were working on).
The Secret Deal
This is where things take a turn and the hearsay ramps up a little, according to some rather than just take Blizzard to the cleaners (BoW Legalese for suing them) GW for whatever reasons opted for a ‘non aggression pact’ basically saying if you leave us alone we will leave you alone. Since then Warcraft has become the behemoth we see today, and come on, surely everyone can spot the resemblances ;o) And if you have a look at the Kotaku article you will see them drawing comparisons between StarCraft and Warhammer 40K.
So where does this leave us?
The above may or may not be true, most likely we will never know the whole story of what actually happened between these two companies, and all the key players have probably moved on long ago (Blizzard has changed name and been bought and sold about half a dozen times in its history), but one wonders:
a) Could this experience explain a little why GW protects it’s IP so vigorously now (and we believe rightly so, considering that a video game like Gears of War will turn over more in its opening weekend that GW would in a year, you can see why a rich and powerful Intellectual property like that of 40K is worth protecting – yup we believe the story is worth more than the little plastic men we love so dearly.)
b) Do the guys in Blizzard still enjoy a game of Warhammer or 40K during their lunch breaks ;o)
So what do you guys think? There is obviously some reason why these two companies have not went to war, (considering the rest of us are afraid to take a dump that looks like a space marine in case a cease and desist letter comes up the toilet!), does it mean that anyone with deep enough pockets can go and setup their own game with bulky armour-clad Galactic Marines and nasty looking Insectisaurs?
All we know is there is no such thing as coincidence!
BTW: Watch the trailer because Starcraft II is looking awesome!
This have been on my mind since Starcraft (1) came out and hit me over the head with the similarities! Really dope games!
Starcraft was originally ment to be a 40k game, GW did give the rights to blizzard after the success of warcraft to make a 40k and for some reason GW changed there minds. This was in an interview way back with blizzard (who some of them have said they love the odd game of 40k). So what they had made sofar for this 40k game they then turned starcraft. Yes there some similaritys of the 2, but they are vastly different which is why no action has ever been taken. Marines in Starcraft for example are mainly re-socialized criminals and… Read more »
Which brings us nicely to the whole point of ‘Tolkien based Fantasy’ so much of the fantasy imagery and literature goes back to LOTR who can any of it be truly ‘Original’. Although we did hear that GW were the first to make Orcs green 😉
On that matter: http://tinyurl.com/2vawoef 😉
Indeed. Must of Tolkien’s work is based on Scandinavian and Germanic folk-lore, so much so that even some character names and dialogue in Lord of the Rings is ripped straight out of Beowulf. No, you can’t be truly original…
It’s been common knowledge that blizzard created a WHFB “ripoff” after losing GW’s support. And I can surely understand that step. Knowing that they had created a somewhat great game, instead of just canning countless workhours (and therefore money), they simply changed it just enough so GW won’t be able to say a thing and released it. Imho they didn’t even think about talking to GW about creating StarCraft, probably knowing that they would run into the same problems again and just built it up from scratch with 40k in mind. Can’t blame them, why re-invent the wheel? I like… Read more »
Wow… I mean.. I hadn’t even considered the possibility, but I feel like an idiot with it staring me straight in the face! haha
Dang, I’ve been playing warcraft/starcraft since their inception, and fantasy for over 10 years. Talk about feeling like an idiot!
Great article, cant wait for the game to come out!
Thanks BoW!
tbh i realy wana play starcraft 🙂 i think starcraft took some good ideas from wh4k but changed them. still starcract 2 looks awsome!
“I like all four franchises and tbh I’m tired of these “oh look, a bloody 40k ripoff” debates”
Snap, and tbh i can’t even see how people compare the universe’s background, as i have seen in other forums. The lore is so different between the two. I will say that the trailer is pure awesome, looks like a proper movie! and cannot wait for the game.
Actually I don’t even know wether or not to buy SC2. As much as I loved the first one, Acti-Blizz really is going down the cashcow drain.
50 bucks for a game thats basicially 1/3 of the original (only 1 terran campaign, no zerg/protoss), offers no LAN mode (in which, lets be honest, SC1 made the most fun to play), no chat lobbies, but this stupid b-net 2.0 with facebook integration
might i go out on a limb and state the article was discussing the visual similarities, naturally there is going to be some background and fluff differences between the two.
lest we not be argumentative, just sayin!
i’m looking forward to get this game. I got the collectors editions. That version has the first starcraft on a usb stick in the box :D. I have the orginal starcraft on CD, but i hope this version will be updated for windows 7 ;).
I will admit that the zerg in star2 do look similar in ways to modern Tyranids but to me IMHO they both look similar to geigers Xenomorphs 😉 , but i don’t agree that the protoss look like the eldar, or the terrans just becuase they have shoulder pads as part of the armor, look like spacemarines. Do any of the BOW team play Starcraft/Diablo/Warcraft at all? As i siad before i do find it interesting that one of the head 40k fluff guys Andy chambers(who has said he loves starcraft) now works for BE, well the starcraft department. I… Read more »
When push comes to shove the only people likely to win in a court case like this would be the lawyers which is probably why a case between two parties who could afford to take it to court doesn’t happen while massively agressive and antagonistic C&D letters fly around like confetti any time someone uses a picture that could remotely be GW related
I also am getting the Collectors edition, after being part of the Beta for SC2 the game is awesome! so is 40k 🙂
There is no such thing as innocence…
I always thought there was alot of similaries to both franchises, specially them orks.
tbh i think its nice they haven’t tried suing each other over these things because then we may not of had starcraft or warcraft or maybe any of the excellent plastic models that gw are bring out today,i think it nice to have more fanasty products out there, i would hate just having one company to rule all so to speak (aka microsoft).
I believe Bilzzard just managed to evolve its stereotypes better than GW, on both SC and WC.
That been said I wait to see what mr. Chambers did to SC2, from his GW years I can’t say much or really any good words about his competence in both game balance and mythos development, now I wait to see his input on SC2, who knows he might be good and just got hit by GW corporate mindset…
I wouldn’t say ripping off GW is the reason for their success, Blizzard are a brilliant gaming company (or were) though it’s pretty obvious they ripped off Warhammer and Warhammer 40k. It’s the reason why I love GW products so much simply because the fluff behind them is amazing and the look of it all. No other fantasy product comes close to being as bad-ass as Warhammer or Warhammer 40k and the fluff is superior to any other gaming fluff out there, hands down. When I say Blizzard were the best games company in the world is before Activision took… Read more »
stop surfing the web, bow, and go back to work, i want more episodes of the warhammer table tutorial! 😉
Hear hear – back to work you monkeys, time to make Darren gaffer!
Finaly i topic i do know allot about. The similarities warcraft and warhammer fantasy are a bit blur. There where orcs and elves and dwarfs in other media so i would not call this identety theft. But the story is as far as i know totaly diffrent. Orcs from WH are just blood thristy cause they are, while the WC orcs are just demon driven. On the fact of starcraft, as far as ik can tell starcraf 2 equals dawn of war 3 (ooh i hope they hurry up). SC was stolen from the 40k univers, races and all. I… Read more »
GW didnt create the idea of a Space Marine, swarm alien hive minds or aliens older than the stars and with almost infinite knowledge. They’re the basic architypes of sci fi just like man, elf and orc are in fantasy.
The races do look similar for reasons mentioned previously but thats where it stops. In fact its really a small amount of units that look similar.
And Starcraft 2, is Starcraft 2, not basically Dawn of War 3. It bears no resemblance to either Dawn of War 1 or 2.
How is SC an WC ripp of WF and W40k? i just don’t see it, the closet thing to the W40k is the zerg, then agian the tyranids arent original either, if anything the Zerg resemble more the Borg or Cybermen for assimalting other species but organic. The universe’s are vastly different from one another. For example there are no tau, chaos/demons/necrons/ Space Marines types, in SC. The marines in SC are just normal men in body armor, mainly criminals, there not elite soilders there the bog standard infantry. The Backgrounds of the speices are differen’t fully fleshed out backgrounds.… Read more »
A friend of mine (yes I know using that phrase on the web) use to work for GW’s legal Dept. Short of the story is GW vet Blizzard’s Star/Warcraft IP’s to keep GW and Blizzard IP’s seperate.
As a big fan of both universes, it’s obvious the Starcraft universe was heavily based/inspired on the WH40K universe. But both universes are vastly different due to the fluff that’s been created over the years.
However, you can definately still see the resemblance between the Terrans and the SM / IG, the Zerg and Tyranids and the Protoss with the Eldar.
I’ve never played Starcraft, but I have heard at the end of the credits, they have a note that says thanks for not sueing us, GW.
zomg i have to play it now 😛
Seriously is that a game or movie trailer!? I half expect the Pixar or Dreamworks logo to come up at the end.
I have to agree. What’s the point of a game trailer if it doesn’t actually show the game working?
Blizz are known for making trailers like that. There’s enough gameplay trailers out there. Their own trailers are more story trailers (see all the WoW trailers).
We cant discuss the ‘similarities of GW and blizzard without talking about where GW plagiarized their material from. Surely no one one here actually things that anything GW has published contains even a minority of original material? I’m sure George Lucas would have something to say about space mariens, HR Geiger about tyranids and the descendants of Tolkien in regards to the various races he created that have since been palgerised by various companies, but more belligerently by GW. For example, Elves and Orcs both appear in both GW universes as and either in fluff or in the game we… Read more »
Exactly, nice point. I have never understood why people always compare blizz and GW, there are other games that are far closer to the WFB setting, the Elder Scrolls series esp Morrowind and Oblivion. Doom is similiar to 40k, space marines fighting Demons etc the list is endless, So if GW where to go ahead with legal action, as you have said it would be like waking a sleeping giant, i say just let it be they are both fantastic IPs and i love both to bits and just 4 days to go before release!
what a dick trailer, makes the game look like an amazing action adventure. or a mean movie. they should have shown boring base building and a new player being slaughtered over and over in online
The similarities are quite blatant. It’s almost sad how Orcs and Orks are nearly identical, it really speaks to Blizzard’s lack of real creativity. I mean, even the Tau were brought over to WoW in their beefier cousins, the Draenei.
That said, if GW isn’t going to sue, then so be it. Blizz has a free ticket to wealth and mindshare^^
Tau came out in 2001. Draenei came with Warcraft 2 in 1995.
Well played, sir, well played…
I’m just saying, these ‘two’ companies should just hook up and cut the nonsense. We all know where everything came from, just get married and make some starcraft 2 tabletop babies!