Blizzard's automatic ownership of custom games is a notable addition given massive, non-Blizzard games like Dota 2 first started out as custom maps for the original Warcraft 3.
The freshly released remaster of Warcraft 3 (dubbed Warcraft 3: Reforged) gives its players the tools they need to create custom game modes and maps but this time around Blizzard’s End User License Agreement gives the studio ownership of any community made custom content.
The new rules surrounding custom games were spotted by a user on the Blizzard forums (via PCGamer), and come partnered with other restrictions that forbid creations made using copyrighted material or any content deemed inappropriate.
Blizzard’s automatic ownership of custom games is an especially interesting new rule to hit the Warcraft 3 remaster, one no doubt tied to the fact that some custom modes for the original Warcraft 3 went on to become massively successful standalone game franchises like Dota.
Under the updated EULA, Blizzard gets immediate ownership of any custom games made for Warcraft 3: Reforged and, if the creator isn’t able to give those rights away, Blizzard instead is granted “an exclusive, perpetual, worldwide, unconditional, royalty free, irrevocable license enabling Blizzard to fully exploit the Custom Games (or any component thereof) for any purpose and in any manner whatsoever.”
Blizzard’s full custom game acceptable use policy, as updated January 21, 2020, can be found here.
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