Brutal Legend's lead, voiced by Jack Black
UPDATE: In a follow up story on the AP, it was confirmed that Activision did file the lawsuit Wednesday, during E3. The suit claims the Double Fine was paid roughly $15 million by Activision for the development of Brutal Legend. At that time, the developer requested an extra $7 million and nine months to finish the game, says Activision.
The filing indicates that Double Fine and Activision were in negotiations to publish Brutal Legend, but failed to reach an agreement. The suit asserts that Activision never ceded the publishing rights to the game, which they add EA has no proper claim on now. Activision states that this situation has caused them "irreparable harm," losing rights to both sell the game and the DLC of Brutal Legend. EA was not mentioned as party in the suit.
"Hey, if Activision liked it, then they should have put a ring on it," Double Fine President Tim Schafer said. "Oh great, now Beyonce is going to sue me too."
Original story: The AP is reporting that Activision is suing Double Fine Productions. The publisher is taking legal action to prevent the release of Brutal Legend.
The lawsuit says that Activision still has the rights to the game, which Double Fine transferred over to Electronic Arts. The company claims it still has a publishing contract for Brutal Legend, and has already invested $15 million in its creation. The title, starring Jack Black, is set to release later in 2009.
The timing of the lawsuit strikes us as curious, given that it's been known for over half a year that Double Fine was hoping to publish the game with EA. Assuming this suit hasn't been brewing for some time, it looks like Activision is trying to use some legal flimflam in order to get some money out of a game they seemed throughly disinterested in after the merger with Vivendi.
5 Comments
June 4, 2009
Activision needs to chill and make 9 more guitar heroes. Oh wait, they already are.
June 4, 2009
Complete and utter BS. Norhing more than a shady attempt at a money grab. It's no wonder gamers are calling for an ATVI boycott thanks to this news.
June 5, 2009
Please please don't churn press releases! I can get this from Reuters! Give me analysis.
June 5, 2009
Amen brother. ;-)
June 5, 2009
Though, to be fair, I'm digging the opinion stuff on the site so far, and it's a lot less PR than before. Good steps, congrats on a great first week guys.