The Business: Temu VOTOMS Getting Big In Them Britches Again

Perhaps you saw this late last week.

That's right, Temu VOTOMS has a third Vidya adaptation in the works now.

Good question.

I posit this as an answer: Those Quebecoi Andys actually did the smart thing with the post-3rd Edition collapse and refocused on a Brand that could be salvaged. This lead to a refocus on the origins of the Brand as a skirmish-scale wargame (Blitz) which led to a spinoff (Arena) while keeping old material available as PDFs and POD offerings. This decision satisfied two of Dream Pod 9's desires: the desire to rebuild the Brand back to something that breeches the Normiesphere (and it did; there were PC games and a TV series) and compete with BattleTech (which it does), and the desire to use Gaming as a backdoor into the more popular and profitable Narrative media industry.

What you see is exactly that happening. That's why there was big hype for the 4th edition of the Tabletop adventure game two years ago, and now this new Vidya adaptation.

What you don't see is Dream Pod 9 learning why that collapse happened: using the wrong medium for the job. You also don't see Dream Pod 9 realizing that they, like FASA and its successors, are going to run into problems if they get too big for their britches because the owners of Armored Trooper VOTOMS want a Western audience.

Dream Pod 9 is going to have a bad time in court if the owners or desigated agents thereof decide on lawfare. This won't be like G-Dubs going after MCA Hoegarth over "Space Marine"; Prior Art is not on DP9's side, and the resemblace is brick-to-face obvious to casual observors--the Reasonable Man standard--so they're relying on the hope that they are sufficiently Legally Distinct to not get bent over in a courtroom, and that presumes an American or Canadian court. Japanese? Nope; they're fucked. Somehow I doubt that DP9's corporate structure is sufficiently robust to make such events irrelevant. (That's a hint, you Temu Frogs; you have enough to make it worthwhile so do it already, and he does take Canucks like you lot as clients.)

Over at the Clubhouse I'll talk about how Heavy Gear, Jovian Chronicles, Gear Krieg,, and CORE Command should be used- and thus should be developed, published, and supported.