If the Stranger Things license was lost, can't the developers at least bring back the cosmetics?
Unfortunately I haven't bought any cosmetics for the Stranger Things characters but at least I got the opportunity to buy them. By the time they were out of the game I was pretty new to DBD and didn't know that they are gonna leave, I was lucky that I bought the chapter. If the developers can make so that the cosmetics return at least for idk the people that own the chapter for a day I would pay 5 times the price of 1 cosmetic just to buy them, they look so cool. I love stranger things, what a shame that is not in DBD anymore :(
Comments
-
The most likely reason is that BHVR is no longer allowed to make money off of the Stranger Things IP. This also bars them from selling cosmetics for the characters.
14 -
oh man , but what if the cosmetics return to be bought with iridescent shards?
0 -
That’s an interesting question I don’t really have a concrete answer to. We have a resident law student on these forums, though.
@GoodBoyKaru would you be able to explain this?
1 -
Netflix own stranger things this includes all licensing & likeness including cosmetics.
Charging shards or cells is irrelevant as Behavior would be in breach of multiple laws & sued for so much the game probably would actually die!!
They can't just take something from somewhere else & put it in the game regardless how they charge for it. Technically their still making profit from someone elses property as they could never prove that someone didn't buy the game just for those cosmetics.
PPersonallyI think Stranger things will come back, probably for the anniversary.
Its a win for pretty much everyone concerned including netflix.
Until then we'll all just have to keep on waiting.
3 -
I wish it comes back
0 -
Without seeing the exact contract, no, but I can take a guess.
Before doing so, however, I'd like to clarify I am not a trained, practicing lawyer, and while I have an A-Level in Law and am working on my Law Degree, this is all not legal advice.
Netflix could argue in a court of law that the Stranger Things cosmetics returning to the store would intice players into purchasing cosmetics, even if just with Shards, and would put them into a spending mood and thus would be a marketing tactic for BHVR to increase player count and sales. Moreover, they'd be doing this all with property that isn't their own. There's a reason why every licenced trailer, teaser, tome, cosmetic collection, etc. always has the copyright of the licence holder.
Without licence (Alternative word, permission) to use their content, Netflix could sue for Copyright infringement, and using the argument earlier would also be able to claim damages equal in value to whatever their legal team estimates the boost in revenue gained by having those cosmetics in the store is.
Moreover, every licenced cosmetic and chapter purchased requires a percentage of the revenue to be sent to the copyright holder as a "royalty" - an amount of money paid to the original copyright holders as payment in exchange for the allowing of their Intellectual Property (IP). This is outlined in the contract both parties formed and signed to enable the use of Stranger Things within Dead By Daylight. Selling these cosmetics for shards would still require BHVR send the royalty, as per the contract, and so they would be losing money just for keeping them in the store.
Finally, another reason could be that they legally cannot. It doesn't matter if the cosmetics are for sale for Iridescent Shards or Auric Cells, under the games End User Licencing Agreement (EULA), both are defined under "Digital Currencies" which are used to purchase "Digital Goods". I'd suspect something similar would be in the contract. While the contract is valid, BHVR are able to sell the cosmetics (the "Digital Goods") however once the contract has expired (or has been broken) they are no longer able to sell these cosmetics for any value whatsoever.
Again, I am not a lawyer, and despite me having studied the law for the past few years now, I have not been trained as either solicitor or barrister and this is not, and should not be interpreted as, legal advice.
Edit: I felt like doing some research, so if BHVR were to sell the cosmetics again and be found in breach of copyright infringement, here's what would happen.
Before that, however, we need to define the different types of crime. These are outlined in the Canada Criminal Code.
A summary offence is the least serious, tried in smaller courts for smaller values. The general rule is that the value of this crime cannot be more than CA$5000, and as such the punishment cannot equal more monetary value than CA$5000, a prison sentence of more than 2 years, or both, unless otherwise stated by the law.
An indictable offence is the most serious, tried in larger courts for larger values. In the UK, this is usually tried in the High Court (Criminal Division), although could be tried as a civil case under the Multi-Track system. Essentially, it's anything over CA$5,000 (again, unless stated by law), and so the punishment cannot be anything less than CA$5,000, 2 years imprisonment, or both.
The punishment for copyright infringement in Canada is outlined in s.2(1) of the Copyright Act (R.S.C 1985). There are two different punishments, which relate to the severity of the crime.
For a summary offence, the punishment would be a fine of up to CA$25,000, 6 months imprisonment, or both (s.42(2.1)(b)).
For an indictable offence, the punishment can be a fine of up to CA$1,000,000, 5 years of imprisonment, or both (s.42(2.1)(a)).
So yeah, facing 5 years of imprisonment, a 1 million dollar fine, on top of being able to also be sued for damages and a potential breach of contract? I wouldn't risk it if I were BHVR.
6 -
I am speechless. I have never seen someone answering at a question with this much detail. Well done and thank you for the response. I wish you good luck in whatever you are doing right now and I hope you succeed!
4 -
Yh copyright law is something no company wants to mess with.
Shame, I really wish bhvr could/would get the stranger things IP back. I only started dbd last august. Managed to get a physical copy of the nightmare edition for xbox with stranger things content on it. But without that disk it'd be inaccessible to me and I can't buy any cosmetic for my demo boi 🙁
1 -
What can I say, I find the law (specifically the application of the law) fascinating when it's written in a semi legible way (like Canada's Acts are, and totally unlike the UK's Acts are)
0 -
"If the Stranger Things license was lost, can't the developers at least bring back the Stranger Things license ?"
Some people, I swear...
0 -
Yeah, that's not what the OP was asking, and you know that. They're asking a valid question; can the developers make it so that people who already own the DLC can purchase cosmetics for their DLC characters?
The answer is a complicated no due to the countless licensing issues.
1 -
It was Netflix's decision to stop ST from being apart of DBD
So it's on them talking through everything to get it back
But then again maybe a new chapter with Netflix and ST may be on the horizon (But I don't know)
0