Bitmap Books 'Mega Drive Visual Compendium cancelado após ameaça de ação legal da Sega

"As a small business, this is not something we can risk."
Bitmap Books, the UK publisher known for its sumptuously designed line-up of retro gaming books, has announced it’s cancelling its planned unofficial Mega Drive/Genesis Visual Compendium following threats of legal action from Sega.
Bitmap’s Mega Drive Visual Compendium would have been the eighth title in the striking Visual Compendium series, following books covering the gaming highlights and history of the Atari 2600/7800, Commodore 64, Amiga, ZX Spectrum, NES, SNES, and Master System.
The latter volume was produced in partnership with Sega, but despite Bitmap Books’ efforts, its planned Mega Drive Visual Compendium didn’t have the official backing of the company, ultimately leading to its demise.
Announcing the cancellation of the Mega Drive/Genesis Visual Compendium on Bitmap Books’ website, creative director Sam Dyer wrote, “We’ve had to push back the release date a few times, and as of now, have not communicated why.
“I’m afraid to say that we have been asked by Sega to remove the listing or face potential legal action. As a small business, this is not something we can risk. After discussions, their position is non negotiable. It is of course their right to project their IP as they see fit.”
“Personally I have regrets with this project,” Dyer added, “as I should have put the brakes on a while back. Instead I pressed on with the belief that it would be OK because of the various efforts made to state that the book is ‘unofficial’ and the skew towards third-party games. I was also buoyed by the number of Sega fan related projects that were out there that are not challenged legally. In hindsight, this was a mistake, and I should have shelved the project.”
“As of today, I must admit defeat,” Dyer continued. “I’m not prepared to risk everything I’ve worked for, and jeopardise the amazing projects we have in the works. As a small business, we cannot fight something like this legally. I wanted to personally apologise to our fans that were looking forward to the book, and for our lack of clarity around the situation.”
Dyer added that Bitmap Books is currently exploring ways to release the Mega Drive Visual Compendium as a free PDF, and will do so if feasible in the future.
Eurogamer contacted Sega for this story but the publisher declined to comment.
Get your first month for £1 (normally £3.99) when you buy a Standard Eurogamer subscription. Enjoy ad-free browsing, merch discounts, our monthly letter from the editor, and show your support with a supporter-exclusive comment flair!
Get the day's most talked about stories straight to your inbox.
Matt Wales
News Reporter
Matt Wales is a writer and gambolling summer child who won’t even pretend to live a busily impressive life of dynamic go-getting for the purposes of this bio. He is the sole and founding member of the Birdo for President of Everything Society.
Please enable JavaScript to see comments.
GOG officially ends its Steam-import Connect service after years of inactivity
You can get 13 superb Wadjet Eye point-and-click adventures for £8 right now
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's next major update coming "late February"
Newscast | What to look forward to in 2023!
Legend of Zelda cartoon writers reveal D&D influences
New story trailer for Season introduces key characters on bicycle adventure
Bungie makes big Destiny 2 armour mods change
Marvel Snap PVP mode arrives end of January
Buy things with globes on them
And other lovely Eurogamer merch in our official store!
Bad puns and video games since 1999.
Copyright © 2023 Gamer Network Limited, a ReedPop company.
All rights reserved. No part of this site or its content may be reproduced without the permission of the copyright holder.

source