Beckett estate is not amused at Beckett videogame

Posted by on March 28, 2011 in Games

My previous favorite “games are too art!” videogame was Waiting for Godot: the Video Game, based on the play by Samuel Beckett (pictured). However, it turns out Beckett’s estate consists of humorless killjoys. Mike Rosenthal, who made the videogame, reveals in an interview that he was legally bullied into changing the name:

To quote one of the several cease and desist letters I received from the French lawyers representing the Beckett estate, “Unfortunately we do not share your sense of humor.” They asked me to change the name “Waiting for Godot,” because they held the rights to it. Under American law, my game is considered parody and is protected under fair use, but I complied since I’m just a college kid who can’t really afford a lawyer. So I changed the name to “Samuel Becketttt’s Lawyers Present: Waiting for Grodoudou.” I even explicitly stated on my website that my game is now referring to the Australian Samuel Becketttt, not to be confused with the Irish Samuel Beckett. They didn’t appreciate that. So now it’s just called “Game.”

By the way, it’s worth reading the interview, which has a remarkable mystery and resolution in the first paragraph. Go here.

As for “Game”, you can play it here, or watch the YouTube video of its original incarnation here.

(Thanks to Dingus and The Daily Dish!)

  • Jimmy Johnson

    Having seen the game, I wonder if Beckett’s estate is objecting more because of the lack of imagination and quality or for ostensible legal violations. It’s really not very clever, and I’m not sure why anyone would be shocked.

  • Alexx Kay

    Those Joyce lawyers object to *everything* — even science. They sent a cease-and-desist to a scientist who encoded a little bit of Joyce into some artificial DNA.

    http://blogs.forbes.com/davidewalt/2011/03/14/craig-venters-genetic-typo/

  • http://digitalonanism.blogspot.com Omega_Chervil

    I’ve spoken to someone involved in stage productions about this and I understand that this is just how Beckett’s estate responds to people who don’t “pay to play” in general. They’re also quite strict about re-interpretation of his plays, even after people have paid them proper licensing fees. Kind of a remarkable stance for them to take, given the nature of his work, but such is the world of literature.