I got SC Origins for free and it sucks. I guess Stardock had to bundle it with a graphics card purchase. Maybe it was designed for kids?
If I sell SC to Atari for $300,000.00 Atari owns the IP of SC. IF they sell the IP to another company (Stardock) then Stardock owns the IP, unless there was some mitigating clause that would revert to the creators of the original IP (me for this example) then I would have to discuss with Stardock my new idea for a SC game and work with them. Which would mean SC Origins would be a better game, make some serious reto cash, instead of going to court and making an expensive scene.
$300K is a lot of money for a game written for a 8088, and then dumped to the public domain. I paid $9.99 for my copy back in the day. No need to defend them.
I still have the protection code wheel for the game.