Homeworld IP goes to unannounced owner as Kickstarter campaign offers refunds

A community-driven effort to resurrect the Homeworld series has been outbid on the rights to the franchise, the campaign's organisers revealed.

Developer TeamPixel began a crowdsourced campaign to obtain the rights to Relic's space RTS Homeworld back in January, saying it would make Homeworld 3 for PC, Mac and Linux, and Homeworld Touch for iOS and Android.

"The auction for the Homeworld license ended April 15 2013, and while we reached qualified bidder status for the bankruptcy auction, we were unable to raise the necessary funds to remain competitive against the other parties at the auction," wrote the studio in a Kickstarter update.

Refunds are now being given to backers of the campaign.

The new owner of the Homeworld IP was not mentioned, but TeamPixel expects an announcement during May after the sale is finalised.

Homeworld creator Relic was purchased by Sega in January for $26.6 million after THQ auctioned off its assets. The rights to Homeworld were not purchased by Sega at the time.

Homeworld II was the last time the series was seen. It was released in 2003. Relic's next game, WWII-themed RTS Company of Heroes 2, will be released for PC on June 25.