(Posted to the ALIEN RPG forum: https://forum.frialigan.se/viewtopic.php?t=11894 )
In the feedback to Building Better Worlds, it was noted that Gemini Exoplanet was listed as an affiliate of Seegson and elsewhere listed as working with Weyland-Yutani which may have been a mistake in the printing:
https://forum.frialigan.se/viewtopic.php?p=86843#p86861
I can't speak for the writers whether it was unintentional or not, what I can speak to from personal experience is how strange some corporate rivalry can get.
Biritish Petroleum has traded Fortune list positions with Exxon/Mobil a number of times since the turn of the century.
Market news pitches this as bitter economic warfare, rivalry, etc.
BP also built and installed the Thunderhorse platform in the Gulf of Mexico which included a seabed pipeline terminal with a pipeline and fiber-optics back to shore.
Rather than build their own, ExxonMobil joined BP in a joint-venture around access to that pipeline terminal from their lease block next to the block where Thunderhorse was setup.
So... rivals can work together if the situation is economically viable enough.
ExxonMobil did the math and found it was far more cost effective to lease space in the terminal and pipeline back to shore than it was to build their own.
You can add a lot of dynamics to your Alien story universe by making rivals into strange bedfellows from time to time to subvert the expectations of the players.
In the feedback to Building Better Worlds, it was noted that Gemini Exoplanet was listed as an affiliate of Seegson and elsewhere listed as working with Weyland-Yutani which may have been a mistake in the printing:
https://forum.frialigan.se/viewtopic.php?p=86843#p86861
I can't speak for the writers whether it was unintentional or not, what I can speak to from personal experience is how strange some corporate rivalry can get.
Biritish Petroleum has traded Fortune list positions with Exxon/Mobil a number of times since the turn of the century.
Market news pitches this as bitter economic warfare, rivalry, etc.
BP also built and installed the Thunderhorse platform in the Gulf of Mexico which included a seabed pipeline terminal with a pipeline and fiber-optics back to shore.
Rather than build their own, ExxonMobil joined BP in a joint-venture around access to that pipeline terminal from their lease block next to the block where Thunderhorse was setup.
So... rivals can work together if the situation is economically viable enough.
ExxonMobil did the math and found it was far more cost effective to lease space in the terminal and pipeline back to shore than it was to build their own.
You can add a lot of dynamics to your Alien story universe by making rivals into strange bedfellows from time to time to subvert the expectations of the players.
