Silicon Knights vs Epic Games - SK Sues Epic, Epic Now Sues SK
If you are living under a rock, let me first take a second to get you up to date with some quick cliff notes of what has happened between these two very well known game companies:
July 19th 2007: Silicon Knights sues Epic over “unsatisfactory performance of Unreal Engine 3″ (Note: I am not sure if you are aware of the Unreal Engine, to see what games use it click here here here here here here here here here.. … oh.. you know what, maybe you are already aware of this engine, so let me stop.. cause there is many more games mind you). The original lawsuit claimed Silicon Knights has lost revenue because of delays for the game Too Human because the Unreal Engine was not working as Epic claimed it would, and Epic would not fix it. (Eventually SK made/tweaked their own engine for Too Human).
July 23rd 2007: Other Devs Speak Out
“UE3 isn’t perfect by any means, but I don’t feel Epic misrepresented it in any way when we licensed it.” - Josh Jeffcoat, Gearbox
“Epic does make a great product and while I don’t hold anything against Epic personally, we are a small indie developer and we are at the mercy of the licensor. It just wasn’t the best relationship for us.” - Mike Jaret, Running With Scissors
“It is true that Epic was very late in delivering key features to UE3 during the development of Gears of War.” - Unnamed Dev
Now here is the new parts to this story as it unfolds:
August 9th 2007 (Just a few days ago!): Epic Countersues! Mark Rein, a man I have much respect for, has said they have “done nothing wrong” and Epic has stated in their counterclaim suit that Silicon Knights “decided to misappropriate Epic’s licensed technology” and that their lawsuit “lacks factual or legal merit.” Epic seeks injunctive relief, compensatory and punitive damages, the destruction of infringing goods, including infringing computer code, and attorney’s fees and costs. Compensatory damages = In excess of $650,000.
August 9th 2007 (Same day response to the countersuit!): SK says No YOU! as Christopher T. Holland of Silicon Knights states “We don’t think Epic’s counterclaim has any merit,” Holland told us. “We believe strongly that our claims in our complaint will prevail and the damages Silicon Knights has suffered in connection with its original complaint are vastly more, millions of dollars more than what Epic claims its damages are in its counterclaim. They’ve set forth $650,000 and our claims will dwarf that substantially.”
But hey, its all good, Too Human isn’t affected by all this, “Regarding development of Too Human, we are still on track for a 2008 release date, as we announced most recently at E3 2007.” Honestly though, I think I am more entertained by this lawsuit’s outcome more so than Too Human’s release by far. Keep an eye out on The Rally here for updates as well as new gaming site LawsofPlay.com, dealing specifically with gaming and the law, which this SK/Epic ordeal is reeking of.
[Next-Gen.biz | Kotaku | GameDaily BIZ | QJ.net]
