Contrary to our report earlier this week that NASA Learning Technologies had cut its educational MMO budget, asking developers to create and maintain the game for free, NASA intends to offer a licensing agreement in which the developer would still make money from the MMO’s release.

While NASA will not be directly funding the MMO’s developer, its previously reported $3M budget will be used for its contributions to the project, including access to media assets, data, archives, and NASA “subject matter experts,” such as engineers and scientists.

“The developer gets to make money on the game... some of which (negotiable) goes to NASA” explained MMO Evolution author Robert Rice. “This isn’t any different than making a game based on a Hollywood license, except the developer will get better terms, more creative control, and probably some sweet technology out of the deal.”

Discrediting claims that NASA was seeking to compensate developers with brand placement opportunities, Rice continued: “The point about ‘negotiating brand placement’ was in regards to NASA’s logo. They have very specific and restrictive rules about how, where, and when the NASA logo is presented. Most large companies have similar rules, but NASA is really picky about it. The logo can’t be used in such a way as to imply that NASA endorses a particular product or political stance, or whatever. They were quite clear about their willingness to try to work around this a bit and make it work.”