Activision sues Double Fine over Brutal Legend

by Christopher Grant on Jun 4th 2009 1:49PM

Yahoo reports that Activision filed a lawsuit against Double Fine, developer of the Jack Black-fueled Brütal Legend, on Wednesday to "stop the release" of the game. The mega-publisher claims to have invested "roughly $15 million" into the game's development and that "it still has a valid contract to release the game," despite Double Fine transferring rights to Electronic Arts late last year.

Last February, Electronic Arts responded to Activision's saber rattling saying, "We doubt that Activision would try to sue. That would be like a husband abandoning his family and then suing after his wife meets a better looking guy." Yeah ...

So, to recap:

Sierra is subsumed into Activision, following the Activision Blizzard merger
Activision drops much of Sierra's lineup, including Brütal Legend
Brütal Legend looks for another publisher, but Activision is "blocking the process"
EA Partners swoops in as the game's new publisher
Activision sues Double Fine (that's this post)

Source

Tags: Activision, Brutal-Legend, Double-Fine, e3-2009, EA, EA-Partners, Electronic-Arts, lawsuit, legal, Microsoft, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (211)

Dude, Activision released MW2 like, 14 years ago! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mechwarrior_2
Oh, Modern Warfare 2......my bad, damn I'm old :)

God I miss mech Warrior 2. It didn't even have textures...just polygons for buildings.

It's cool Airintake.

6. Never buy another Activision game again... bastards.

Yeah. Heaven forbid they release a game that isn't World of Warcraft, Guitar Hero or Tony Hawk. They're just mad because they see how much attention Brutal Legend is getting (I don't know why they would have thought it would be a poor investment in the first place) and now they don't want to be left in the cold (bad pun ftl.). Aww, poor babies. Go sit out on your throne of money and shake it off, losers.

What happens if I hit you with Chameleon Sting?

Will you keep your voice down!?

Tim Schafer's last game is what put Majesco on life support, so its not like Activision was completely wrongheaded for dropping it.

The issue here is that they're claiming they didn't do what they in fact did.

Isn't this kind of thing usually covered in the contracts?

EA is actually the good company in this situation... I can't believe Activision would drop this game, realize it's awesome and then try to get it back after letting it go. They have no right and lost the rights after letting the game go... EA should be able to retain the rights to it and release it on time... I hate how the business side of things gives gamers the shaft...

So when do their actions begin to border on anti-competitive practices?

They try to block Scratch, they try to block Brutal Legend. I mean, they're really trying hard to be douchebags. Kotick has probably set a new policy stating that they are only going to produce sequels/spinoffs and will attempt to absorb as many other companies and stifle any new IPs. Sounds right up that greedy asshole's alley, to me.

accursed sheeple.

on a completely different subject, aristokrat, I have the shirt that is your icon.

No way. I wish I'd gotten one at the time, because they were sweet. I wish I could find one now.

If this seriously stops the release of Brutal Legend then Activision is going to have a lot of angry gamers to deal with.

As Yahtzee would say it: "That is a d*ck move"
Activision would never-ever publish Brutal Legend (they are spending all the time rolling in cash WoW generates).

I thought someone would have learned some PR lessons over FOX versus Watchmen fiasco..

They should start worrying about WoW, though. Almost every WoW player I know would love to leave it for Old Republic when it comes out.

This is nutshit stupid.

It's not:

6) ???
7) Profit!

Odd.

I'm not going to be buying any of the Guitar Hero games from now on or any of the new Hero games they are going to come up with. I won't be buying the new Tony Hawk gimmick. The only game I'll be buying from Activision is Modern Warfare 2 and that is out of respect for the developer of the game. Activision is worthless...

That's just retarded.

Also, I don't think boycotting is going to do anything, because Activision makes its money off the sheeple, not the Joystiq crowd.

We need someone to just go metal on Activision's ass.

how great would it be if jack black and tim schafer made one of thsoe videos about thsi calling activision a bunch of douches?!

Doesn't the fact they dropped the game and decided not to publish it, then let Double Fine go find another company and not do anything till now mean they have no right to the game, or is there some sort of legal crap that allows them to do this?

I don't know if there are laws against this sort of thing, but if there aren't, they should make some. This is getting ridiculous.

Didn't they do a similar thing to Ghostbusters last year? I can't remember exactly. All I know is in the 6 years I've attended Comic Con, never had I seen them cancel a panel - but they canceled the Ghostbusters game panel last year. People were pissed. A lot of Ghostbusters fans made special trips just for that panel. Way to shaft the fans. :\

Activision is run by typical CEO types.

Sleeps in beds of $$$
Does blow of hookers tits
Sues for leisure
Paranoid

If Activision and Bobby Kotick were a Movie they would be American Psycho.

Let's all hold hands and say this.

"Fuck you Activision, your shit stinks, you try to buy the world with little prick dicks, you lost some games and now you want them back, Fuck you Activision you FuCKING rats!"

So much hate over a game that is probably only mediocre at best.

Even if that were to turn out to be true, that's really beside the point. I think gamers want to decide for themselves rather than Activision making a dick move taking that choice away.

I so, so hope that this doesn't stop it. God this is so fucking stupid.

I would boycott every single activision game if MW2 wasn't published by them. I will still be buying that but others... I am going to have to pass on now.

Its amazing how much EA has changed though and I love it. You just didn't think it would be possible a couple years ago.

I know, the Evil Empire has become the Jedi.

A boycott would sound good, except for Starcraft 2 and Diablo 3. I feel like I am required, by the very laws of the universe, to play those games. As if my life could be summarized thusly:

I am born. I play Starcraft 2, then I play Diablo 3. Death takes me.

@Rallion: Ahh yes, I forgot about those two titles because in my mind I really still think of Blizzard as its own entity. I mean, they really are. I still think it will say developed and published by Blizzard.

But you're right, those two have to be bought.

Hey guys...

http://nathansavington.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/sidewaysbobbyexcited.jpg

Am I the only one who wants to hit that guy with every useless plastic peripheral they have made?

Activision is not actually looking to, nor will they succeed, in blocking Brutal Legend from coming out. They're just looking for a hefty check -- then everyone goes about their business. I could care less if a few millions change hands between two massive corporations.

Dick move, but it won't affect my enjoyment of the game.

Quite. The winning strategy in law is to be so annoying that the other party pays you off to go away becuase it's cheaper then fighting it.

That why lawyers are the first against the wall when I take power, next to the politicians and Rupert Murdoch.

FUCK!

Yeah, I hate these guys.

I hate that Blizzard is under their banner. Even if they do retain autonomy, I just don't like the association. These guys are bigger douches than the people at EA ever were.

Did YOU do something retarded. like stab yourself in the eye with a pencil, trip over something in plain sight or give the rights away to a game that looks like it's going to do well?

Then SUE, because it's someone else's fault that you're a mouth-breathing moron!

LoL@everyone scolding Activision over this. Can't you see that this is COMPLETELY NORMAL BEHAVIOR??? I mean it's asshole behavior but that's what businesses are: corporate sociopaths. They dropped BL because they didn't see enough profit in it and now that someone else has done all the marketing and hying up for the product they "of course" want back the stuff they so foolishly dropped. Completely normal business behavior ... look at all the motion control makers that nobody knew until Nintendo had established a succesful product ... within weeks there were half a dozen companies suing (with some success) over royalties. Look at Watchmen ... nobody had heard from them in a decade and when the movie was shaping up for launch they wanted a piece of the cake. Now Blactivizzard has some work to do. Don't forget they own Starcraft and Diablo now, besides Call of Duty and whatnot ... you don't really want to piss them off, do you? ;)

Oh so you get modded down for stating the obvious truth? Nice guys, real nice. Show me one billion dollar business that doesn't operate like this and prove to me that your idealism works outside your heads, then I'll gladly take back what I wrote. Bunch of idiots. Oh and by the way ... ever heard of a thing called "cynicism"? Look it up .. grown ups use words like that sometimes when they talk about the real world.

You certainly made yourself out to be a real jackass, didn't you?

Oh yeah, I forgot. To you guys a jackass is someone who doesn't agree with your opinion and reminds you that reality isn't always cotton candy and unicorns.

Screw Activision ... they only publish all the games you bought in the last six months.
Screw EA ... they only publish all other games you bought in the last six months.

There ... better? Agreeing with the public opinion and chiming into senseless rants is the mainstream amirite? I'm looking forward to being modded down again, thus proving my point.

It's completely nutshit, is what it is!

Activision can add yet another entry to their list of douche-baggery.

Do the "good" people at Activision have any idea how this is making them look right now? Are they also going to sue to block the release of Ghostbusters too?

Neither, let someone else do all the work and then pull some ridiculous reason out yo' ass so they will have to give you part of what they worked out. It's called a "patent/trademark" and is the biggest bullshit since there is no proper regulation against abuse like this.

If I boycott Activision, can I still buy Blizzard games?

Also, whoever came up with this brilliant "Stop Brutal Legend!" plan should seriously consider removing themselves from the gene pool.

Permanently.

With a rusty bayonet.

I been waiting for this to happen so I can bite into them. STOP Buying GUitar Hero Games. It is the Same AND I MEAN the Exact same game as before only with new songs. They are milking actual talent to sell this crap. And the big DLC content is what.......OTHER SONGS! People are making them the monster they are now.

Was the first one fun, yea sure good But do you Need ten more of them? I like blizzard, I have nothing against them get the game there is actually some production put into that. But Guitar hero is a beast that needs to be put down. Activision basically didn't give a crap about the game till they saw how many people will pick it up.

P.S. I blame that cockmasters at Fox for this because they got away with it with Watchmen.

lol i love this boycott talk

your boycott would only last till mw:2 comes out

Well, I guess people could rent it or (gasp) buy it used, instead of paying full price.

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Activision sues Double Fine over Brutal Legend

Reader Comments (211)

Posted: Jun 4th 2009 3:32PM AirIntake said

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Posted: Jun 4th 2009 5:32PM raygungirl said

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Posted: Jun 4th 2009 2:05PM RyanS said

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Posted: Jun 4th 2009 2:05PM Nadril said

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