When Philips Media shut down it was unclear for the CD-i community what happened to the rights of the various CD-i titles. Philips Media sold their portfolio to different parties, but Infogrames was the biggest buyer. Infogrames ended up in what is Atari today. If I understood it right the rights of CD-i games were previously located at Atari. Atari decided in 2019 to clean up their portfolio and bring in some cash, so they sold the rights of certain CD-i games to other (smaller) companies (developers). This means in principle chances are getting higher that we will see a re-release of specific CD-i games on PC (steam?) or mobile platforms, including The Apprentice, Dimo's Quest and Steel Machine. Pretty awesome news, at least the rights of CD-i games are not 'lost' as we thought before, but Atari's statement was something like: "Apparently we own the rights, so with this transaction we let them go." It clears the road for developers to do something with the assets of our beloved CD-i characters as well (Perhaps a long-awaited sequel to The Apprentice!)
Two the companies that acquired the rights of certain CD-i games are Piko Interactive and Subvert Ltd. From the site of Subvert, we now know which game rights they acquired and more particularly: Which CD-i games are in their hands right now. In this case it is about:
"by Infogrames (Beam/Melbourne House, Philips, Ocean), to include; The Horace series (and character), Penetrator, Terror-Daktil 4D, the Mugsy series, the Videopac series (many titles to include Air-Sea War, Battle, Race, Spin Out, Cryptogram, etc. etc.), the Voyeur series, the Mystic Midway series, International Tennis Open, Castle of Terror, Dark Tower, Hellfire, Fighting Warrior, Doc the Destroyer, Terrormolinos, Sir Lancelot , Grand Larceny , Knuckle Busters, Dodgy Geezers, Alien Gate, Kether, Gearheads, Gyroscope, Starion, Hampstead, Arkham manor, Mordons quest, Armageddon, Robotics, Caterpilla, Match Day Series, Pud Pud, Moon Alert, Gillagens Gold, Cavelon, Nomad, Mutants, Eskimo Eddie, Chinese Juggler, Phantom Club, Jonny and the Jimpys, Cosmic Wartoad, Lost Patrol, Starshot, Battle command, Gift from the gods, Prohibition, Mandragore, Stir Crazy."
[Thanks, https://subversive.uk/]
Two the companies that acquired the rights of certain CD-i games are Piko Interactive and Subvert Ltd. From the site of Subvert, we now know which game rights they acquired and more particularly: Which CD-i games are in their hands right now. In this case it is about:
- Alien Gate
- International Tennis Open
- Kether
- Mystic Midway (series)
- Voyeur (series)
"by Infogrames (Beam/Melbourne House, Philips, Ocean), to include; The Horace series (and character), Penetrator, Terror-Daktil 4D, the Mugsy series, the Videopac series (many titles to include Air-Sea War, Battle, Race, Spin Out, Cryptogram, etc. etc.), the Voyeur series, the Mystic Midway series, International Tennis Open, Castle of Terror, Dark Tower, Hellfire, Fighting Warrior, Doc the Destroyer, Terrormolinos, Sir Lancelot , Grand Larceny , Knuckle Busters, Dodgy Geezers, Alien Gate, Kether, Gearheads, Gyroscope, Starion, Hampstead, Arkham manor, Mordons quest, Armageddon, Robotics, Caterpilla, Match Day Series, Pud Pud, Moon Alert, Gillagens Gold, Cavelon, Nomad, Mutants, Eskimo Eddie, Chinese Juggler, Phantom Club, Jonny and the Jimpys, Cosmic Wartoad, Lost Patrol, Starshot, Battle command, Gift from the gods, Prohibition, Mandragore, Stir Crazy."
[Thanks, https://subversive.uk/]