Add older artwork for cards?
- Thread starter EnforcerX
- Start date
Pretty sure there is no legal issue there, DBG licensed the cards from Hasbro (I assume) and since it was original art, they don't have to worry about weird third party art licensing which often holds up the secret lair stuff, i.e. Hasbro licensed the art to print it but not to make a video game with it as often the video games rights are sold separately or to a different party who holds an exclusive license for that. The only art that comes to mind I doubt we will get is the banned art by certain unnamed artists because they weren't woke enough. I agree though it would be nice though if DBG simply included all the art for every card physically published, that was always the draw/promise of MTGO over something like Arena. A game where you could actually play your old favorite art.
Apparently that's not entirely true... per Tony about a month ago, concerning Rust:
I'd like to see them explain that one better. I just don't think Liz got some super magically special deal back in '94 before multiplayer online video games were even a thing to get royalties in perpetuate and that the future unheard of electronic distribution was a separate right; generally in the game industry back then everything was a single bundle hence nightmares today around trying to untangle old game IP like FASA where half the IP nobody even knows who legally owns it anymore. It's not unheard in modern times now that multiplayer video games are real and the licensing models are mature and but back in '93 ... Maybe she was that forward thinking and Wizards really really wanted her at the time for her whopping 32 cards and they had the inferior IP lawyers but seems suspect. I feel there is more to that story if true though.
Neo001992
Community Team
Here's an old mtgsalvation thread on this subject. It does seem like it's a money issue.
LOL well holy crap, they really did have better IP lawyers. Reminds me of a lot of startups where that bites them down the road. +1000 on that find man. I wonder if they had an artist guild back then providing them advice on this sort of stuff for its members (for all us old timers who remember back when professional knowledge worker guilds were a think before we all got outsourced).
Good catch, Neo! While I don’t see this copyright line on my digital cards, I’m sure it was on the cardboard, at least once upon a time (haven’t had any cardboard cards since 2002). But it makes sense, and would explain a lot.
“Royalties. The original artwork was "artists get royalties whenever Wizards uses their art." These days it’s "Wizards commissions artists, and Wizards retains all the rights".
This can be seen with the copyright line on the card. The older cards had copyrights to the artists.
The Antiquities version of Mishra's Factory has "© Kaja and Phil Phoglio" but the newer ones have "Illus [name], © Wizards of the Coast". “
Last edited by mondu_the_fat: Mar 5, 2018
“Royalties. The original artwork was "artists get royalties whenever Wizards uses their art." These days it’s "Wizards commissions artists, and Wizards retains all the rights".
This can be seen with the copyright line on the card. The older cards had copyrights to the artists.
The Antiquities version of Mishra's Factory has "© Kaja and Phil Phoglio" but the newer ones have "Illus [name], © Wizards of the Coast". “
Last edited by mondu_the_fat: Mar 5, 2018