Christian Cawley is a writer and editor who covers consumer electronics, IT, and entertainment media. He has written for publications such as Computer Weekly, Linux Format, MakeUseOf.com, and Tech Radar.
He also produces podcasts, has a cigar box guitar, and of course, loves retro gaming.
Retro Games Ltd clarifies things for fans of its hardware after news of Commodore’s revival, lead by retro enthusiast Perifractic.
If you’re as excited about the news of Commodore’s return as I am, you might have spent a few moments pondering on the number of devices based on their classic computers.
Naturally, I’m referring to RGL’s TheC64 Mini, TheC64, and TheA500 Mini systems, which ship with games pre-installed and are based on the Commodore 64 and Amiga 500. Oh, and there’s TheVIC-20, too.
What Retro Games Ltd says about Commodore
Posting on Facebook, Retro Games Ltd has stated:
“Just to avoid people getting confused, and with people already commenting on posts.
The recent news ref the Commodore brand has no real relevance to us, nor the pending THE A1200, nor in fact any of our products in general.
We will be making announcements on our revised release timeline soon, but to be very clear once again, the Commodore brand news is not relevant to our releases, but to also be very clear all is well with all our pending releases, keep watching!”
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They later replied to a query about licensing:
“…we pay game owners royalties, other IP owners, and with rising global manufacturing and transport costs rising we have no desire to have to charge you guys even more by adding further license fees”
So, in short, RGL has no intention of using the Commodore name. Which, when you think about it, is fair enough. Their products are emulation systems that resemble old computers, they don’t have a Commodore badge (and have been at pains to avoid using the logo) and as such a licence is not required.
It’s a shame, of course, but the easier to get retro games into the hands of the masses without individual settings for each title in an emulator, the better.
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Christian Cawley is a writer and editor who covers consumer electronics, IT, and entertainment media. He has written for publications such as Computer Weekly, Linux Format, MakeUseOf.com, and Tech Radar.
He also produces podcasts, has a cigar box guitar, and of course, loves retro gaming.
