Stargate Network
The fan-made video game Stargate Network is ceasing all further development, the team behind the game announced today. This comes in the wake of Stargate owner Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s acquisition by Amazon, and 18 months after Stargate Network received a cease-and-desist order from MGM for their unlicensed use of the intellectual property.
“We would have preferred to announce a new version including all the additional content already developed,” the team’s statement reads, “but unfortunately that will not be the case. Development is stopped.”
The game was available as a free download during its development, which spanned 15 years as a labor of love — “made by fans for fans,” as their slogan goes. It went offline in 2021 amidst discussion with MGM over the possibility of obtaining a license.
The team behind Stargate Network started the project in 2007 with an early, two-dimensional mock-up of the S.G.C. Gate Room and dial-home device built in Adobe Flash. The project was completely rebuilt and expanded in Unreal Engine 3 in 2012, then again in Unreal Engine 4 in 2018.
When the game went offline the fully interactive world allowed players to explore Stargate Command, dial the Stargate, and visit the pyramid housing the Stargate on the planet Abydos, as well as other worlds — all in first-person perspective. Additional expansions were in the works, including a flyable Puddle Jumper and other ships, and the city of Atlantis.
Check out this farewell video for a look at the history of Stargate Network‘s development, plus some incredible work in progress that will be left unfinished. That includes Atlantis, prototypes for VR and multiplayer, and a cinematic recreation of the Battle of Antarctica in SG-1’s seventh-season finale, “Lost City”:
The Stargate Network team expressed gratitude to everyone who has contributed to, played, or otherwise supported the game over the years.
“It is with considerable emotion that we would like to thank every person who ever took part in this project, no matter how small or big the contribution, from the most ancient to the most recent ones.”
That long list of fans and talent includes Stargate Atlantis actor David Hewlett (“Rodney McKay”), who was among the game’s public supporters. In June of 2021 he revealed the fan group’s legal troubles on social media, publicly pleading with MGM to allow the fan project to continue.
“Dear @MGMTelevision,” he wrote: “Please reconsider your cease & desist approach to @IBREC’s amazing #StargateNetwork. These are brilliant artists & fans creating incredible works inspired by Stargate & should be promoted (or hired!), not facing legal action!”
While the team did have cordial conversations with MGM in the months following, the Hollywood studio’s acquisition by Amazon earlier this year seems to have complicated matters. Now Stargate Network‘s creators have decided to stop pursuing the matter and cease development.
“The further we went in the game’s development, the likelier its quality and fidelity could be assimilated to a professional production,” the team said. “We were aware this could eventually lead to a major copyright issue,” but they said that efforts to contact MGM about the game between 2018 and 2021 were unsuccessful.
In June 2021, shortly after the announcement of an official Stargate game, we received a cease and desist letter from MGM’s lawyers asking us to stop developing and sharing our game.
Thanks to our lawyers and the support of people who worked on the original show, we were able to come forward with our willingness to obtain the rights to the IP.
A few months of very cordial exchanges and meetings with MGM followed. We are obviously not able to be more precise about the content or results of these meetings for obvious confidentiality matters … but we thank MGM for their genuine interest in our project.
While Amazon’s acquisition of MGM seems to have put an end to their discussions with the Stargate Network team, developers remain hopeful that Stargate as a franchise will return under its new steward. “Be assured that we have done everything in our power to make Stargate Network come back,” they said. “The only thing to do now is be patient and see what Amazon decides to make of the Stargate franchise.”
Stargate’s official video games licenses have a checkered past, with numerous titles commissioned but failing to make it to market. That includes the PlayStation 2-era Stargate SG-1: The Alliance, and the massively multiplayer online roleplaying game Stargate Worlds in 2009.
Currently in development under license from MGM is Stargate: Timekeepers, a real-time tactics strategy game for the PC. The last new intel on that game came last spring, and while publisher Slitherine stated that they hoped to reach the beta stage by summer 2022 there have been no updates since then. A Slitherine rep tells GateWorld that the game is still in development, and the publisher will have an update early in 2023.
Our thanks to the team at Stargate Network for their years of passion and hard work.
On Twitter: @SGNgame
On the Web: Stargate-Network.com
NEXT: Read Stargate Network’s official statement
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View Comments
Yeah, great, thanks again Amazon and MGM, for nothing.
Now this great piece of a game, which is actually a game the fans wanted, is gone for good.
Instead we get a crappy RTS game which nobody wants, which looks like it came from 1995 and which hardly even looks like a Stargate game.
If SGN would have gone commercial, I would have actually spent good money, even though my gaming days are far behind me, just to financially support them.
Timekeepers on the other hand, no interest what so ever.
Honestly, have we seen even one good decision in the last 10 years coming from MGM?
And whether or not this will improve with Amazon remains by far to be seen.
Let's just say I won't hold my breath.
Honestly, decisions like these make me want to boycot any new Stargate by Amazon or MGM even before it comes out.
I said nearly the same thing on another forum somewhere 😂😂
That's a bummer :(
By the way Amazon US is once again displaying the warning that Stargate is leaving in 14 days.
Wow! That was fast. Hopefully it's only a false alarm.
False alarm as in a glitch or false alarm as in they decide to keep it at the last minute? Don't think it's a glitch since everyone on Stargate reddit is reporting it too. Someone there suggested Amazon might be pulling it to put it on the new MGM+ service they're launching next year.
We've seen a few times where the show came up with the notice that it was leaving soon, only for it to stay on that service. It could be that an extension is forthcoming, or that the end date was entered wrong in the system. ... Or it could be that MGM / Amazon are deliberately moving it elsewhere, yeah.
I kind of doubt they would take the shows off Prime Video in order to make them an MGM+ exclusive, but who knows!
I'm a huge fan of Stargate, I've watched SG1 and Atlantis multiple times. I actually had no idea about this game, but would definitely have played the game if I'd known about it. I understand licensing issues, but it seems so unfair that so much time and hard work should just come to nothing. I hope Amazon sees sense and can come to an agreement.
I get that people are upset about the game but unfortunately it's more complicated than people think. Unless something is licensed through the proper channels, Amazon/MGM can't allow it to go through because then it sets a dangerous precedent of allowing other IP squatters to use and possibly profit off Stargate illegally. Even if MGM doesn't mind or care, this is not something they can do and it's definitely not what giant corporate behemoth Amazon will ever do with anything it owns. It's neither good legal nor good business practice.
I will say, however, that instead of shutting it down, they could've instead tried to have talks with the game's creators and worked out a proper licensing deal under which they could've continued.
Yeah, but have a good look at their official statement. I checked this on their discord too, where I've been following them for years.
Apparently they realised themselves that they would need proper licensing and tried to contact MGM through different channels between 2018 and 2021, but were just ignored, they never got a response.
Then suddenly in 2021, when that crappy Timekeepers game is announced, THEN suddenly they recognize SGN and slap them with a cease and desist, after ignoring their attempts at talking for years. Then suddenly they started having talks.
Sorry, but from the side of MGM, this can only be classified as a first class dick move, period, full stop.
Just yet another example of how they treat Stargate fandom. Inspires a lot of faith for the future doesn't it?
MGM has been a mess the last few years pre-Amazon sale. Brad himself said he's tried to contact people there and was told every time the people he tried to reach "no longer works at MGM." It's very likely whoever the game creators tried to reach may not even have gotten or seen those messages to license. It's unfortunate but that's what it is - distressed companies often lay off or close certain departments so things get lost in the shuffle.
But still, Brad got an answer that the people he tried to reach are no longer working for MGM. So, he was not completely ignored… .
I mean what kind of signal does this give to us, when some really inspired stargate fans are completely ignored by the owners of the franchise? I mean even the actors tried to reach out to MGM to help the team of stargate network. Seems like they have been ignored as well, so again, what kind of signal are they giving to us?
The team tried to do the right thing by getting an approval for the game, and now they are being literally kicked by them… .
No worries Ancient Rings is still in development. just took short pause and will be kicking things up.
I didn't even know this existed until now , and now that I do, I am incredibly sad :( viva la Stargate Network.
Same. Had no idea it was out there until it was too late...
Yep. This is how I found out this existed. I would've loved this.
..and literally the day before my birthday; what a sucky birthday present :((
I owned the box sets on DVD and when times were tough and couldn't afford the cable bill that month I never stressed. I would randomly grab a disc and watch it or start from 1. Got every ex girlfriend into it them as well. 5 years ago I lost my memory. I didn't start regaining them until late October 2021. I struggled with life and other than work didn't go out with friends like I used to. My girlfriend at the time told me it was my favorite show and that I made her a fan too. She was right. for the first 2 years after the memory loss I couldn't tell you how many times I watched the series. It helped me through my depression and in those lonely years was basically what I watched other than movies because my cable was out alot lol. I found the shows never give up storylines inspired me to do the same and also kinda picked up an O'Neal smart ass type attitude. Amazon doesn't understand the deep-rooted die hard fan base stargate has and should endorse the game and give the new scripts written by the creators more attention.
Glad you're regaining your memories. And that Stargate helped you through your experience. Stargate is a powerful thing!
Ughh... This is incredibly sad. It would have been amazing to walk around Atlantis...