Greetings Matt.
Many years ago, I advised the TSL team to obtain a license for their game, or not continue. I heard they had a license but hadn’t realized it could be pulled at any time. I’m surprised the license was pulled, but hope that it means Activision, or someone, is finally going to do something with Kings Quest.
As to my feelings on fan games….
Were I running a publishing company again, I’d do what I could to support the various fan projects. It seems paranoid to fear competition from games with no, or severely limited, budgets. That said, there is a serious issue with the need to police your trademarks and copyrights, or lose them. And, there is risk that someone will use your characters in an offensive manner. However, there can be ways to resolve this through a simple license agreement that spells out terms of use. 99% of the time the projects are harmless, and help generate enthusiasm around the brand, whereas efforts to shut the projects down tend to make the company look bad to the fans.
I haven’t seen the TSL project and don’t know whether or not there really is a finished game or not, or what its’ quality is. I remember being told years ago it was months from completion (and doubting it.) If there is indeed a project, and a good one, they should simply change the name, the character names, and a few plot points, and launch their game. In other words, make it different enough that it is not a Kings Quest game, but retain the game play. If the game is fun to play it will do fine. Although they won’t have the Kings Quest name, they’ll have plenty of media attention, and name recognition (for The Silver Lining). If the game does exist, I doubt the team is just turning off the lights and going home.
Good luck with your article!
-Ken Williams