So uhm... what does licensing really do for a route and hypothetically how many people would care if it didn't exist? Probably a stupid question but..
It allows DTG to sell products with a companies logo, livery, identity, etc. Without that license, everything would either be bland or unbranded copies of real life stuff (As seen on TSC) Plus it makes routes feel more authentic. People are attached to routes or trains, and would be probably be extremely annoyed if their favorite thing in game is just a generic copy instead of the real thing.
Without Licensing we would have to make do with something like "East and South Railway" instead of "Southeastern" Or even "German Barn/GB" instead of "Deutsch Bahn/DB" Or even "COTG" instead of "BNSF"
In my experiience DTG and other train sim companies prefer to just omit names entirely rather than make up fake ones when making unbranded content.
Like others have said, having licenses allows dtg to use the actual name and colors instead of seeing a plain white debranded locomotive which isn't great to look at. The mp36 that came with washington to baltimore was unbranded so it was just a plain white train. Some trains had the colors, but not the actual logo (metra route in tsc). I would rather have the real thing instead of some generic piece of equipment that doesn't mean anything.
licenses are nice it way but for others like me it pain. it can make the game very limited on what dlc DTG can make. also i think licenses expire. that why we can't seen any more Canadian dlc for this game. the CN licenses has expire.
If the CN license expires, then they would most like have asked DTG to remove their products from Steam, which hasn't happened yet. The only thing the CN has done was have DTG pull Bessemer and Lake Erie for TSC cause the CN license didn't cover the B&LE. And only twice in recent times has DTG pulled content for retired branding. Those being Virgin and Arriva Trains. https://live.dovetailgames.com/live...cB1h__UUnABYjB8IsOJlZ0tqO-LTuP2VMJ2kupMseLXQU https://live.dovetailgames.com/live...icle/arriva-trains-wales-product-announcement
Licences really matter to me. I like to see the trains looking like the real ones with the same liveries and logos. To me it would just look wrong without them. Having said that, I enjoy the Island Line 2022 and that isn’t the real livery. But in that case, I’d never seen the real train. If DB or SBB Trains had no logos or fake liveries, then it would just seem entirely wrong.
Copyright infringement. Example.. Southern railway is a registered trade mark, to use that trademark you need a licence to do so. If you was to start a business making, for example birthday cards with the southern logo printed on them, Southern would want thier cut of your profits for using their logo. This would be sold to you as a licence agreement.
Yeah probably, my experience is mostly in free mobile games about flying aircraft ("Emarites Boeing 380" instead of "Emirates Airbus a380") Still, an attempt at humour, even if it wasn't worth it!
