Victor Ireland will allow the use of dubbing in remasters

[jos24]

Working Designs co-founder Victor Ireland quickly chimed in, stating that GungHo hadn't gotten in touch regarding the use of the localisation but added that he was prepared to allow its use in the remasters for a low fee.

https://www.timeextension.com/news/2024 ... alisations

[Sonic#]

Does anyone else find it difficult to parse stories like this? I understand what's literally being said by the different parties, but GungHo is understandably not commenting much on this. Stigile's comments seem to address a concern over ownership but not in a clear way. As for Ireland, it's hard to know (a) what "a low fee" is and (b) whether GungHo is interested in reusing those assets at all, whatever the fee. So it feels like a story with too many conditionals to take as more than gossip.

[Temzin]

I think that even without taking sides or having the knowledge to do so, it's probably fair to guess that GungHo, as the current (dubious) owner of (the empty shell that's all that's left of) Game Arts, would find it much more convenient to be in full control of the Lunar series rather than having to seek agreements with the owners of translations and performances from long ago for this and any other re-release. Isn't there some weird thing where any US releases of the original Macross have to go through some sort of negotiation with Harmony Gold, the producers of the bad old version from decades ago? Not that I think Working Designs' work on the series was bad, I think it's mostly great, I'm just talking in terms of the procedural annoyance of dealing with a previous localizer outside the organization, which GungHo (who I don't have any particular regard for, I assure you) would like to eliminate.

...unluckily for GungHo, the absolute least possible vehicle for jettisoning administrative baggage from past translators is a port of a nearly 30 year-old-game whose prime audience is very likely the exact same people who have fond memories of the original dub. So while GungHo's reluctance (or whatever the hang-up is with Vic) makes sense on one level, their refusal to play ball is probably doing them more harm than good if they're trying to actually make any money off of a long-dormant series with very very low name recognition today beyond abovementioned original fans.

[ShugoHanasaki]

Working Designs co-founder Victor Ireland quickly chimed in, stating that GungHo hadn't gotten in touch regarding the use of the localisation but added that he was prepared to allow its use in the remasters for a low fee.

https://www.timeextension.com/news/2024 ... alisations

I think that's a fair request given everything that has gone on

[Shiva Indis]

Does anyone else find it difficult to parse stories like this? I understand what's literally being said by the different parties, but GungHo is understandably not commenting much on this.

I feel much the same way. The pieces don't fit. I'm just a consumer and I appreciate that no one has any obligation to make the rights situation with this franchise make sense to me, but it's an uneasy position to be in.

If the goal was to get me on the internet saying "it sure would be great if Gung Ho included the Working Designs dub in the Lunar collection," well, there, I said it. Hope it helps.

[Omegazero108]

Isn't there some weird thing where any US releases of the original Macross have to go through some sort of negotiation with Harmony Gold, the producers of the bad old version from decades ago? Not that I think Working Designs' work on the series was bad, I think it's mostly great, I'm just talking in terms of the procedural annoyance of dealing with a previous localizer outside the organization, which GungHo (who I don't have any particular regard for, I assure you) would like to eliminate.

You speak of a court case that got settled. Literally any and all other Macross series besides the original could be released outside Japan now without having to jump through a million flaming hoops, as Harmony Gold only has the rights to the original Macross according to said ruling.

...unluckily for GungHo, the absolute least possible vehicle for jettisoning administrative baggage from past translators is a port of a nearly 30 year-old-game whose prime audience is very likely the exact same people who have fond memories of the original dub. So while GungHo's reluctance (or whatever the hang-up is with Vic) makes sense on one level, their refusal to play ball is probably doing them more harm than good if they're trying to actually make any money off of a long-dormant series with very very low name recognition today beyond abovementioned original fans.

In Gungho's defense, it could be Vic's idea of a 'low fee' is more than they're willing to deal with, same as why trying to get Lunar on the Genesis Mini 2 died