Activision Sues Over Brutal Legend
Posted by Dan on June 4, 2009Activision Entertainment Holdings filed suit yesterday against Double Fine Studios, developer of the upcoming game Brutal Legend, seeking an injunction to stop the game’s release. Claiming that Double Fine transferred various rights to EA that they did not possess, Activision is alleging $15 million in restitution already invested as well asserting that they in fact have the rights to release the game. So why did they drop the game in the first place? The timing on this suit also smells fishy. IGN reports that Activision threatened EA to sue back in February. Why EA, and not Double Fine? And why time it now, right in the middle of E3? Seeking a greater amount to claim for the game’s value? Or to sabotage EA?
Either way, something’s fishy in California.
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This is pure conjecture, but I’m assuming they’re suing EA for the same reason Fox sued Warner over the Watchmen rights when it did– EA’s in a much better position to settle than the studio, they’re in charge of distribution and release, and right now the stakes are too high to avoid settlement.
The studio isn’t going to have the money to settle, so they’d fight it. EA will probably settle because it’ll be more affordable than a fight with another major.
Maybe I misunderstood what happened, but what I got was that Activision threatened to sue EA, but then ACTUALLY sued Double Fine instead. Wouldn’t you have expected it the other way around?
You’re right, and I apologize– I misread the report. It may be that they feel that Double Fine is in a better position to be pressured; they can’t really expect Double Fine to pay up, and this may have just been a litigation tactic to scare Double Fine out of continuing development before moving on to the next step– suing EA.
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