Peace In Our Time: Brutal Legend Lawsuit Settled

[DoctorFinger]

This must be what it felt like at the end of the Hundred Years War. The legal dispute over Double Fine Studios' Brutal Legend has finally come to an end.

The various sides in the conflict - Double Fine, old publisher Activision and new publisher Electronic Arts - were scheduled to appear at a court hearing today, but instead announced the settlement. Terms of the deal were not announced, but the title's release is no longer threatened.

Brutal Legend will be released on October 13 for the PS3 and 360

Sources - NY Times; Shacknews.

[digitalErich]

Good news, after watching those opening play-throughs, this became one of my most anticipated titles of the Fall.

[National Kato]

Agreed, Erich. I didn't want to spoil anything for me, but letting myself watch those videos only increased my anticipation for this game.

[LordDon]

And there was much rejoicing.

[Adam Blue]

So Activision was delaying hearings to post-pone release, knowing they would lose. Wow. Infinity Ward needs to get under a respectable publisher.

[Esquilax1138]

I'm going to beat that dead horse one more time, PC version please!

[Zanzibar]

Originally Posted by Adam Blue

So Activision was delaying hearings to post-pone release, knowing they would lose.

ROFL. Go find evidence of that. Activision didn't delay the hearings, the courts did. But hey, y'know, truth never got in the way of seething fanboy logic.

And they didn't lose. Activision probably got millions more in the settlement from EA now than they would have even six months ago. There was very little buzz when Activision cut them loose, and now they reached a settlement, when interest in the game is at its height. Buy low, sell high.

It's just business. I really wonder sometimes when you guys will realize that.

[Adam Blue]

Originally Posted by Zanzibar

ROFL. Go find evidence of that. Activision didn't delay the hearings, the courts did. But hey, y'know, truth never got in the way of seething fanboy logic.

And they didn't lose. Activision probably got millions more in the settlement from EA now than they would have even six months ago. There was very little buzz when Activision cut them loose, and now they reached a settlement, when interest in the game is at its height. Buy low, sell high.

It's just business. I really wonder sometimes when you guys will realize that.

I was just reiterating something I read. So, I guess that source was wrong. It's not like that never happens.

But fanboy? Where do you get YOUR facts in calling me a fanboy?

[digitalErich]

Originally Posted by National Kato

Agreed, Erich. I didn't want to spoil anything for me, but letting myself watch those videos only increased my anticipation for this game.

I was a bit apprehensive as well, but I couldn't pass up commentary from the DF crew and I (rightly) figured they would just be covering the tutorial sections of the game.

[Narradisall]

I'm not surprised one bit. Since it was expected this was their end game all along. Hey, thats business for you though.

I hope Brutal Legend is even more of a success than I hope, purely as a kick in the teeth for the idiots that canned it.

[Kelegacy]

Originally Posted by Zanzibar

ROFL. Go find evidence of that. Activision didn't delay the hearings, the courts did. But hey, y'know, truth never got in the way of seething fanboy logic.

And they didn't lose. Activision probably got millions more in the settlement from EA now than they would have even six months ago. There was very little buzz when Activision cut them loose, and now they reached a settlement, when interest in the game is at its height. Buy low, sell high.

It's just business. I really wonder sometimes when you guys will realize that.

Many of us don't care about the business side of the industry, the capitalist greed, we just want to play games. Activision was trying to leech off one of the games people are looking forward to most this fall. Cut loose a developer and refuse to publish their game at all, then want money after the studio finds a new studio and people start buzzing about the game. Like a bitter bitch who divorces her husband for no real reason but when he strikes it big later on and finds happiness with a new woman she goes after him for alimony.

As far as I'm concerned they are corporate evil incarnate. I know you work for them, and I don't hold that against you, but surely you understand why so many people dislike the assholes and their shenanigans.

[crazyD]

Good fucking news! Glad to hear this hasn't impacted the release.

Originally Posted by Kelegacy

Many of us don't care about the business side of the industry, the capitalist greed, we just want to play games. Activision was trying to leech off one of the games people are looking forward to most this fall. Cut loose a developer and refuse to publish their game at all, then want money after the studio finds a new studio and people start buzzing about the game. Like a bitter bitch who divorces her husband for no real reason but when he strikes it big later on and finds happiness with a new woman she goes after him for alimony.

As far as I'm concerned they are corporate evil incarnate. I know you work for them, and I don't hold that against you, but surely you understand why so many people dislike the assholes and their shenanigans.

My sentiments exactly.

[Doogie2K]

And we didn't even have to betray Czechoslovakia to the Germans.

[violent]

Aw shit. And here I was hoping my Brutal Legend patch would become a rare item.

[Adam Blue]

Originally Posted by Kelegacy

I know you work for them, and I don't hold that against you, but surely you understand why so many people dislike the assholes and their shenanigans.

That's something I did not know and now I see why his reply seemed so sensitive to my post.

Either way, as mentioned, as a gamer, I'm disappointed. And I give credit where credit is due. As much of asshats as EA was, since Riccitiello has joined up, they've been doing good for me and as a gamer and I publicly recognize that.

[Ghostbear]

Originally Posted by LordDon

And there was much rocking.

Fixed that for you.

[Zanzibar]

Sorry Adam, I've been grumpy of late. 'Fanboy' was uncalled for and I'm sorry for it.

I guess I've just been arguing too much about this. This wasn't any kind of Activision ploy to deny fans from a cool game, it was a ploy to see if they could recoup development costs. People threw around the term 'cut them loose' when it comes to Double Fine's development of BL, but I guarantee you that Activision wouldn't let millions of dollars walk out the door.

What DF told EA when they were shopping for a new publisher, I have no clue. But it's pretty clear that the term 'settlement' means that EA paid Activision some money. You can't infer that Activision 'knew it was going to lose' and thus settled; you could more likely infer that EA realized that they'd have to pay SOMETHING and finally offered an amount that Activision liked.

One more thing: The lawsuit that Activision filed was to prevent the release of the game. The stories that went around a week or so ago trumpeting that the judge was 'inclined' to not take Activision's side was not because Activision's claims for dev cost recoupment were without merit, it was that Activision did not need to halt the release of the game for the courts to still be able to find in their favor: if Activision sued for those costs, the fact that the game was released would not adversely affect Activision's ability to recoup them from EA.

The lawsuit was a strategy card that Activision played in order to force EA to pay up. If EA thought they could get away without paying the millions of dollars in dev costs, then there's no way they'd accept any kind of settlement.

[crazyD]

Not necessarilly. They may have settled on DF dropping the counter suit, if Acti dropped this one. And the judge did say that Acti didn't really have a case.

[Ondo]

Originally Posted by crazyD

And the judge did say that Acti didn't really have a case.

No, he absolutely did not. From the AP report (source):

The judge, however, said it didn't appear that either side had an upper hand in the case.

"This is going to be a close call," Karlan said.

[crazyD]

Also from the AP report:

"I can't say there's a likelihood of success here," he said.