Stage 9 project - gone?

[batboy853]

Anyone know what's happened to the stage 9, Enterprise-D VR project? Suddenly their site only says "Live long and prosper.", their reddit is locked down, and their discord is not allowing new messages.

Did they get a cease and desist notice? I hope not, I haven't played any of their recent releases

 

[CRM-114]

Their most recent Facebook post is from August 21, regarding an interview they did with TrekNews.net. After that, nothing. The most recent tweet on their Twitter feed is from August 23, and suggests that they were working on an update. Again, no news after that date. I tweeted them asking if anything was still going on, and I'm waiting for a response.

Maybe they have just closed up shop.

 

[NervousEnergy]

Looks like a cease-and-desist from CBS.

"Thanks for the concern folks, it means a lot to all the devs that you guys support us.

We don't have any specific information to give out at this time, but as soon as we've worked everything out for sure, we'll be sure to post a full update explaining everything.

Cheers"

 

[Nightowl1701]

Aw, CBS... in the immortal words of Dr. Evil: "You just... don't get it, do ya? You don't."

 

[JoeRalat]

Did the YouTube videos for stage 9 have ads?

 

[batboy853]

Not sure. None that I have recalled seeing.

It would really suck if they have to close up shop.

 

[Sibyl]

Was this a physical sets thing or VR?

 

[Stephen!]

The download links still work.
https://webcache.googleusercontent....e-9.co.uk/download/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

 

[Charlie Kelly]

Yeah looks like a cease and desist.
Everything's gone down, their website, all their YouTube videos have been removed, their reddit's locked, their discord's locked etc.

One of the developers posted this on their discord yesterday.

Scragnog
Yesterday at 22:04

Thanks for bearing with us folks. Unfortunately we won't have any more information until Monday at the very earliest, keep checking back!

 

[batboy853]

The download links still work.
https://webcache.googleusercontent....e-9.co.uk/download/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=uk

Yas! I did not even think about that I tried the wayback machine yesterday But had no luck.

 

[DanGovier]

We're still here, we just can't elaborate on the current situation right now. As Scragnog said, we're hoping we can lift the veil of silence at some point after Monday

 

[BorgMan]

I do hope you guys can sort out whatever it is that's buggering you. I think we all were expecting a C&D sometime soon, but hey, one can hope...

 

[Michael]

Not sure. I use ad-block.

Just a friendly reminder that discussing ad-blocking is frowned upon on this board – as hinted at in the board rules. The Trek BBS depends on the ads running on this site in order to keep going. Please refrain from mentioning it in the future.

 

[137th Gebirg]

Damn, that sucks about the C&D. I realize CBS/Paramount own the IP, but once again they seem to be engaging in their usual scorch-and-burn tactics towards the very same people who watch the show that pay for their salaries. Very self-destructive and shortsighted business practices, IMO. Glad I got the latest copy last month before it got shut down.

 

[BorgMan]

[...]we're hoping we can lift the veil of silence at some point after Monday

So... Any news yet?

 

[batboy853]

Yesterday they posted this on discord:

"Hi everyone. We were hoping for a more concrete update yesterday, but the cogs turn very slowly indeed. All of the devs are still here. The moment we know for sure what the future holds, so will you."

Right now 1 of 3 things are possible:
1.) Cease and Desist
2.) An official CBS blessed game studio has approached them - unlikely
3.) They are planning a big version announcement - unlikely as it seems they are waiting to hear from someone

 

[The Librarian]

I've been worried about a Cease & Desist ever since they started talking about potential multiplayer gameplay features in the last couple videos. That puts them in direct competition with an actual licensed product and CBS might not have any choice but to issue a C&D due to the license. I suspect something similar with the Voyager project, where the creator had a patreon.

 

[Sibyl]

Yeah, that might do it, but we're (mostly) all still speculating.

 

[Jim Gamma]

Hope they didn't get a C&D but it is likely. CBS are supposed to protect their trademarks and copyrights vigorously otherwise they lose them, IIRC. That means as soon as something reaches critical mass, they have to send in the lawyers. They can turn a blind eye to smaller stuff (like most fan fic) as long as it doesn't make money for anyone, but not something big that may take our attention away from authorised projects.

 

[Rekkert]

Okey, we can finally talk about this...

On Wednesday 12th Sep we received a Cease and Desist from CBS requiring us to cease development. We made every effort to approach them to discuss modifying the project to meet their criteria, but they are refusing to even discuss the matter. We'll be making a longer statement on Discord shortly. We hope you enjoyed Stage 9 while it lasted!

From all the team, Live long and prosper.