Activision suing Brütal Legend developer
June 5, 2009 | 10:46
Companies: #activision-blizzard #electronic-arts #lucasarts #rock
Activision has launched a lawsuit against Brütal Legend developer, Double Fine Studios, to try and prevent the game from being released as it claims the title has caused "irreparable harm" to the company according to reports.
Activision claims that Double Fine had previously failed to deliver on crucial development deadlines and that the team requested more funds and time to complete the title - another $7 million in funds and a nine month extension, to be exact. The publisher and studio apparently tried to negotiate a new deal, but were unable to find a solution that worked.
Fast-forward from there a little bit and Activision merges with Blizzard and Brütal Legend doesn't appear to be a title that Activision is taking with them, with the publisher presumably under the impression that the game was cancelled, it seems. Double Fine is still continuing with the game however and then sells the rights to Electronic Arts, presumably under the impression that Activision doesn't want the game. That's a lot of presumption perhaps, but at this stage it's not entirely clear how it happened that EA ended up buying the rights to a title that Activision claims it still owns.
The claim filed by Activision is now alleging that the company suffered irreparable harm as a result of all this, losing not only the rights to the game and the profits that it might bring, but also the potential profits that might have resulted from Activision selling downloadable content for the game. It's also interesting to note that the lawsuit singles out Double Fine Studios, but not EA in any way.
When asked for a comment on the lawsuit and how it might affect the game, Double Fine founder and Day of the Tentacle designer Tim Schafer said only that "if Activision liked it, then they should have put a ring on it."
"Oh great, now Beyonce is going to sue me too," he continued.
If you want to know what we think of Brütal Legend then you can check out our Brütal Legend preview for more information. If you want to know what it was like meeting Tim Schafer and getting him to sign a copy of Grim Fandango then you can check out Joe's blog. Anything else, head to the forums.
Activision claims that Double Fine had previously failed to deliver on crucial development deadlines and that the team requested more funds and time to complete the title - another $7 million in funds and a nine month extension, to be exact. The publisher and studio apparently tried to negotiate a new deal, but were unable to find a solution that worked.
Fast-forward from there a little bit and Activision merges with Blizzard and Brütal Legend doesn't appear to be a title that Activision is taking with them, with the publisher presumably under the impression that the game was cancelled, it seems. Double Fine is still continuing with the game however and then sells the rights to Electronic Arts, presumably under the impression that Activision doesn't want the game. That's a lot of presumption perhaps, but at this stage it's not entirely clear how it happened that EA ended up buying the rights to a title that Activision claims it still owns.
The claim filed by Activision is now alleging that the company suffered irreparable harm as a result of all this, losing not only the rights to the game and the profits that it might bring, but also the potential profits that might have resulted from Activision selling downloadable content for the game. It's also interesting to note that the lawsuit singles out Double Fine Studios, but not EA in any way.
When asked for a comment on the lawsuit and how it might affect the game, Double Fine founder and Day of the Tentacle designer Tim Schafer said only that "if Activision liked it, then they should have put a ring on it."
"Oh great, now Beyonce is going to sue me too," he continued.
If you want to know what we think of Brütal Legend then you can check out our Brütal Legend preview for more information. If you want to know what it was like meeting Tim Schafer and getting him to sign a copy of Grim Fandango then you can check out Joe's blog. Anything else, head to the forums.
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