Statement on Acquisition of Q9 from Blastbay Studios.

Further to our recent announcement to the effect that our company have purchased the rights to the computer arcade game Q9, there have been a number of what I might call "protests" from some blind people as it will no longer be available for purchase as a standalone unit.

While we should be devoting our time to supporting our existing and potential customers, together with working on product updates, I find myself writing yet another blog post to defend our position. I have to say that I would not be doing so if it were not for the fact that it creates a central resource to which to refer people for details of the acquisition, and also that the proprietor of Blastbay Studios is receiving a high level of agression towards him which he does not deserve. This is a final and definitive statement. No further comment will be forthcoming.

Background.

Q9 is a game which was developed some years ago by Blastbay Studios. It is a fine and highly professional piece of work. It was sold on the open market for an extremely nominal cost, both by the developing company and through a small number of distributors.

The game has been selling poorly for a lengthy period and no further development is taking place and has not done so for quite some time.

The Current Position.

We were offered to purchase the sole rights to the Q9 game. It has been suggested on Twitter particularly that we were "given" the rights to it. This is not the case. A significant purchase has been made. The only reason as a company we would want to purchase such rights is to further our existing product development. There would be no value in doing so otherwise. Given that the rights have been purchased, we are absolutely entitled to distribute or modify it in whichever way we choose to. If people wanted the game, I would respectfully suggest they should have purchased it previously, and there then may not have been the need for the company to sell the rights.

There has also been a suggestion that if development was to cease on the game, it should be "given" to the blindness community. If you spend months bringing a project to fruition, the last thing you are going to do is to give it away. That would be crazy. What you would want to do is to recoup whatever investment you could, and if there is an offer on the table to buy the rights to it, you're going to grab it. This was a simple and good business transaction.

We believe that including the game in Leasey will bring it to a new audience automatically along with other games already contained within the product, together with those we are developing for the future. We would like to thank Philip Bennefall and Blastbay Studios for working with us, not only in respect of Q9, but also to develop our new Treasure Troll game. We would certainly commission him to produce work for us in the future and we hope he is agreeable to do this. He is a true expert in his field.

Just to summarise, if anyone purchased a license for the game in the past, of course that is still going to function. However, no further standalone licenses will be issued.

Conclusion.

There is one thing I can promise. We want to give the very best possible service to the purchasers of our products. If someone wants to sell the rights to a product that they have created which we feel would benefit users of Leasey, then of course we're going to do what we can to purchase them. Many businesses do this all the time. While that may be disappointing for a small number of people, we have to do whatever we can to improve our products. If that means purchasing skills externally to create something, or purchasing the rights to an existing product, so be it.

In closing, both ourselves and Blastbay Studios have been subjected to messages of confrontation on this point. "Hate Mail", invective and aggression are completely counterproductive and do not make anyone interested in listening to your point of view. We only respect the views of people who advocate their point in a civil manner.