Permissions?

tglessy

Alright, so in my newest game, users will be able to customize three aspects of their character: Head, Torso, and Legs. Now say I would want to include customization pieces from popular games, or logos of game developers, etc. How would I go about contacting the companies for approval? For instance, one I would like to include is Master Cheifs armor and helmet. Thanks!

Socks

I think it's very very unlikely that companies like Bungie would let other game developers freely use their intellectual property, I think it's vanishingly unlikely that they'd even licence it to you, but if you do give it a try I'd have your cheque book ready.

jamie_c

What Socks said, you need to be a major player, with major dollars to license stuff like that.

3itg

Licensing is expensive.
But, parody laws are awesome as well.
If you wanted the player to wear Master Chiefs armor... well that probably wont happen without alot of money from you or a lawsuit against you.
But you could make armor similar, change the name to something similar "Master Chef?" and make sure it is very obvious what you are making fun of, and you should be within your right for parody laws. Master Chef, throwing suffle grenades, even if he looks vaguely similar to master chief will not get you sued.
You also wont have to pay microsoft for licensing.
But, if you are going to spend the time to make the game, then spend the time to make sure the game wont get you int trouble, so look into parody laws if you plan to go this route.

RP

You'd have to have numerous AAA titles under your belt, industry clout and big buckeroos for them to even consider it. Also, you would be dealing with Microsoft, Bungie no longer holds the IP.

At first I was thinking this was going to be a OSX permissions question. lol