Westwood Studios' 1992 release, Dune 2: The Building of a Dynasty, is widely recognized as one of the earliest and most influential real-time strategy games, providing the blueprint for the genre and inspiring future studios like Blizzard. However, GOG has indicated that an official re-release or inclusion in their preservation program is unlikely in the near future due to a tangled web of intellectual property rights.
In an interview with GamesRadar, Marcin Paczynski, senior business development and partnerships manager at GOG, detailed the complexity surrounding the title. While Electronic Arts currently holds the game code, assets, and associated materials following its acquisition of Westwood, EA does not own the Dune IP itself. The rights are complicated because the game was based on the 1984 film rather than Frank Herbert's original books.
The film license involves multiple parties, including Universal Pictures and the estate of producer Dino De Laurentiis, who passed away 15 years ago. Consequently, De Laurentiis' estate retains a portion of the rights to Dune 2. Adding another layer of difficulty, Legendary Pictures currently holds the IP rights for new Dune films and has an agreement with Funcom to develop Dune Awakening, a survival game set in the universe. Paczynski noted that this deal includes some level of exclusivity, though it remains unclear exactly how or if this arrangement blocks the re-release of classic titles like Dune 2 or Dune 2000.
Paczynski described Dune 2 as a personal "holy grail" for GOG, citing his own nostalgia and the game's historical significance. He emphasized that the situation serves as a stark example of how licensing issues can prevent the preservation of important gaming history. This legal deadlock often leaves fan-made patches and mods as the only viable option for players to experience these classics, as community projects generally do not face the same legal hurdles as official storefronts. Despite these obstacles, there remains hope that the game will eventually receive an officially supported re-release to ensure new generations can play a title that helped usher in the modern RTS era.
Sources: Kotaku.