InstantAction Acquires Starsiege, Tribes Rights For Web Game

Browser-based 3D gaming platform InstantAction announced that it acquired the IP for the entire Starsiege Universe, and plans to release an updated, web-based version of the original Tribes game. Developer and middleware provider GarageGames, which founded the InstantAction platform, obtained the Starsiege IP, including the entire Tribes online first-person shooter PC series, from Activision/Vivendi late last year. GarageGames itself was founded by key personnel from now-defunct Dynamix, the original studio behind the Tribes games. The company's connection to the Starsiege brand was made even more evident with InstantAction's release of Fallen Empire: Legions last year, a first-person shooter that many saw as a spiritual successor to Tribes and that was developed by a number of Tribes veterans. InstantAction intends to demonstrate a browser-based version of Starsiege: Tribes, which was originally released for PC in 1998, at next week's Game Developers Conference. It also says it has the game's source code, enabling it to update the title with bug fixes. The resurrected title, however, will not feature new graphics. "This is the same Tribes that fans will remember, and newcomers will see what jetpacks are all about," says a representative on the company's weblog. A build for the updated Tribes game will be distributed through its site, but will still be playable as a standalone game, notes InstantAction.