Kits, logo, pictures licenses in the future

[StoneColdA]

Hi there, 

As we can see across the community, more and more restrictions are put into getting logos, kits, pictures etc. More or less any pack is now prohibited for download. 

For SI / SEGA:

- What does the future bring in relation to this topic. Will SEGA acquire the rights for player pictures, club logos and shirts across lets say the top 5-10 leagues.

- Will you be forced to make it technically impossible for the above items to be installed? 

For sure if you have to play the game with fake data, then half of the games value goes down, no matter how much dept and realism you can put into the game. 

Br

 

[JordanMilly]

Sorry man, but I can pretty much guarantee that there won't be an answer to this until such time as the status-quo changes, as SI/SEGA never talk about accessibility of logos/face packs/kits/etc from third-party sites. That's almost certainly to give them a level of detachment from the actions of third-parties, so they don't get in trouble for aiding people in breaching licensing restrictions.

[StoneColdA]

10 minutes ago, JordanMillward_1 said:

Sorry man, but I can pretty much guarantee that there won't be an answer to this until such time as the status-quo changes, as SI/SEGA never talk about accessibility of logos/face packs/kits/etc from third-party sites. That's almost certainly to give them a level of detachment from the actions of third-parties, so they don't get in trouble for aiding people in breaching licensing restrictions.

Yes that is what worries me. 

It has been possible up until last year to modify your game to make it as close to real life as you can get. This year you can see various sites have been threatened by what I assume is the player organizations who have the rights to player pictures, from the leagues who have the rights to logos etc. 

You can also see in FIFA where Juventus is now called Piemonte, while the players are still there due to the license agreement with FIFPRO. If FM series would have to call clubs by fake names and it would be impossible to change those names, that would be the downfall. Hopefully SEGA would consider paying for the licenses needed to obtain the rights to use real logos, names, pictures etc. Maybe even make some more money via selling it as an add-on, or a monthly recurring license you pay to use these things. 

I may be the only one out there, but ever since it was possible to use packs to make your game better, I have always felt it adding a lot of value. 

 

[sporadicsmiles]

1 hour ago, StoneColdA said:

If FM series would have to call clubs by fake names and it would be impossible to change those names, that would be the downfall.

This would not happen. FM has always had fake player and team names to some degree. Brazilian teams, for instance, have had 3 letter names for a couple of years. It is all things you can easily fix (and I guess this is one of those topics which I should not discuss in detail here). Thus SI fulfil their licence agreements, and users can make the game how we want. 

As far as I am aware, the problem with kit/logo/face packs is if people are profiting from them. There is nothing to stop you from creating your own packs for your own use. If someone makes money from a facepack, for example, that is a breach of copyright. We can argue about the rights and wrongs of this, but it is the law.