Activision sues Double Fine over Brutal Legend

Meh this is just business as usual guys, and please for the love of all that is holy don't come with that crap that EA is the new savior, their both greedy companies the only ones that really suffer are the developers because they get drained financially, and us the gamers because we don't get to ever play these games.

Hmm so let me get this straight...

Activatision: Sod off, we don't want you anymore
Double Fined: Ok I will!
Activatision: No.. just sod off and don't come back
EA: Hey double mate, need a publisher?
Double: Yes!
EA: Cool, come with us
Activasion: OMG. I said no! That's in your in trouble now!
EA: They won't sue mate.
Double: Yeah
Activision: O'Really? I'll See you in court mate.

xD Yeah that makes sense......

Too bad that Activision/Sierra paid the startup money for this game. So in this vein, Activision-Blizzard deserves royalties/revenue to offset the money they paid for the development of this game. And to use the art scenario, Activision paid for your food, paint, brushes, canvas, and shed you painted in.

That's really fucking lame. If Activision wanted to be part of BL, they shouldn't have axed it.

I have nipples Activision, can you milk me?

10/10 rage material here, no doubt about it.

This has officially made me not to buy any other game (apart from MW2, SC2 and Diablo 3) from them ever again. I don't like to swear, but fuck you Activision and Bobby Kotick. I hope that your head gets chopped of and replace with one of GH's guitars and your company gets razed to the ground.

When is Activision's new line of Imagine Suing coming out?

I DARE ALL OF YOU to put your anger where your wallet is.

I DARE YOU to not buy Modern Warfare 2 like some of you are saying. Do not even buy it used because you can still buy map packs that way.

I DARE YOU to contact Activision in mass to communicate your displeasure.

I DARE YOU to publicly go on record as not buying their games by canceling any Acitivsion orders and preorders you may have.

I DARE YOU to cancel your Wow subscriptions.

NONE of this will happen, because fanboy rage is NOTHING. You can cry about what is going on all you want. But until you ACTUALLY DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT, Activison is going to run over you like a steamroller does a bug.

Watch - this weekend Activision will put out like a two minute MW2 gameplay trailer and all you folks will be like "Tim who?"

I feel really bad for Tim - I do. The one time the guy could have something major in his hands THIS DECADE, and the "GUITAR HERO 77 coming this fall!" corporate leeches at Acitivision get buttsore.

But you know what? Right now Ozzy is trying to backstab Tony Imoni for the Black Sabbath rights. Maybe this is karma for putting Ozzy in his game, because the metal community as a whole right now want the Osbournes DEAD AND BURIED.

Funny how that all works. Last point - Ozzy was in the last Guitar Hero remember?

GFWL - You should have just made Psychonauts 2 Tim...

Doesn't surprise me activision has been on my shitlist since the whole gh rockband compatibility issue. Still won't stop me from buying Modern Warfare 2 but I will cringe a little when I do it.

Why bother with boycotts? They hardly ever work.
Why not hit Activision where it'll hurt them? Pirate their software and never send them a penny of your money.

Activision will laugh at your boycotts.
They will NOT laugh at pirated software that costs them millions.

I'm just say'n........

Definitely a bitch move by Activision, though my guess is the case will either be thrown out or speedily settled.

I mean, they dropped the project. They can't just turn around and claim that when they dropped the project, they didn't actually drop it. Unless they worked specifically to put Brutal Legend into some sort of legal publishing hell after they dropped it, which would be incredibly low for anyone. No reason to just sit on something just for the sake thereof.

Speak for yourself pal. The only Acti game I've bought new in the last 2 years has been Geometry Wars 2, and that was a combination of loyalty to Bizarre, the quality of the game, and the fact that I *couldn't* buy it second hand.

Every single other Acti game I've bought, I've made a point of seeking out a second hand copy.

If I disagree with a company's actions, I have 2 options:
(1): tell the company
(2): don't support those actions with wallet.

I do both. I refuse to support asshattery.

Sour fucking grapes.

I'd just like to add my displeasure towards Activision along with everyone else.

why didnt my previous comment show up joystiq? gah.

Anyways, I say we let these fuckers get a flood of our distaste, the old fashioned way...

Activision, Inc.
3100 Ocean Park Boulevard
Santa Monica, CA 90405

and here I though I didn't have enough respect for Activision left to lose.

Can you imagine the power of the internet if it were able to mobilize every one to ONLY pirate activision games, and NOT pirate Brutal Legend?

It would be so beautiful... but alas it is but a pipe dream.

Tim Schaefer had a great comment to Buinsessweek about 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."

BOYCOTTs aren't effective. I say pirate the heck out of their games!

Just because you don't have a backbone sprinkles doesn't mean others won't stand up for what they believe in to accomplish a goal. You still have a pair of nuts you know and they are good for something other than tucking in between your legs.

I don't blame activision... I mean, video game companies want to make money right??? and watch yourself buy Mod. War. 2 and forget all of this nonsense

Both publishers are terrible companies full of awful people. If you honestly think that EA wouldn't have done the exact same thing if they were in the same position, you're a moron.

I hope they both kill each other.

Ah, the other word boring repetitive Sprinkles loves to use besides holier than thou, hypocrites. : )

Yeah well, I think Activision still has the rights to this game if I am correct, so they have every right to take action. Plus, you "boycotters" aren't going to do a damn thing, you'll still buy more of their games excluding anything from Blizzard's side.

Bloody Bastards.

Activision also ruined WoW it used to be good (during pre TBC and during TBC) but now they joined blizz and want to milk WoW too, they released an expansion pack when you could carried on thier running expansion, also the new WOTLK expansion sucked and it was rushed and forced me to end my sub there. :( i personally feel sorry for blizzard because they were good and now Activision will drag them down to the bottom aswell...

so thats why i say FUCK U ACTIVISION!

These sons of bitches are the new EA. They dropped the game when they merged with Vivendi (along with other games like Ghostbusters and Riddick), but now that the game is hot and popular, they want back in. Screw them!

Actions speak louder than words. If you want to boycott the pricks at activision DO IT! after all, all of their money comes from us gamers. Power to the gamers!

You gotta love EA's response, but you can't marry someone who's still married to someone else. This is similar to the whole Warner Bros/Fox dispute over Watchmen. Bottom line is whether Activisions actions invalidated their contract with Brutal Legend. Just because they decided not to publish, if they hold the rights to publish, no one else should be able to. I would expect that EA had done their due diligence in reviewing the Activision contract, otherwise, they're morons.

@TheLionOfAzzalle

But what if we WERE to back the threats up? Imagine what we could do if we actually organized on this. I've been boycotting them for over a month now, and I've encouraged other people to do the same. So far I know of at least fifty people who started boycotting them since then. It's not much, but it's something.

Anyway, I've set up a blog/forum for people who want to organize. It can be found at http://activisionsucks.wordpress.com/

Activision:- "duhhh, which button do i press again boss?"

Seems pretty petty to me. Let's all boycot COD!

Too bad Activision doesn't care about what anybody in the community says anymore. I mean, for Gods sake, the people that OWN the company barely even play video games.

I feel bad for awesome companies like Infinity Ward that are tacked onto Acti...

I will continue to support developers like IW and Raven by buying their games. No reason they need to be punished for the utter stupidity of Activision's legal department.

Quite ironic that Activision was originally founded on the principles of recognition and fair treatment of the creative talent behind their games.

I better get my game this rocktober...

If we can't release it, NOBODY CAN!!!

Oh, what the f*ck? They spend "$15 million" (in quotes because that total is damned ridiculous for a new IP like Brutal Legend) on a game and instead of riding it out for a little while longer and showing off how awesome it will be, they drop it like a hot potato.

Then when the game starts getting some amazing previews and a ton of positive word of mouth from any game journalist that looks Tim Schafer's way they sue? I've never gone out of my way to do this since it makes no sense, but I'm never buying an Activision game again. Even EA has a better rep than this.

If you call for a boycott, you're a moron and I'll tell you why.

Who are you going to affect by boycotting Activision's products? The guys at the top? Bobby Kotick? The Activision legal department, who are bringing this frivolous lawsuit out to begin with? No, those guys still get paid the same whether you buy Activision games or not.

You will affect developers, testers, guys at the bottom like you and me who become expendable whenever sales dip. Those will be the first to go. I guarantee if people stop buying from Activision tomorrow, Bobby Kotick and his ilk will still be there the next day. The programmers, developers, and testers making $9 an hour, on the other hand, will be the ones affected when they get their pink slips. And over what? A lawsuit that will DELAY (not STOP) Brutal Legend's release.

You want to hit Activision REALLY hard on this? Then go out and BUY BRUTAL LEGEND! Help bring its sales numbers to the millions, so that Activision can see just what they passed up on. And maybe they won't be so short-sighted in the future (doubtful, but still). Rubbing Brutal Legend's sales numbers in Activision's face is truly the best revenge.

But calling for a boycott is idiotic. Now if you'll excuse me, I must pop in Call of Duty 4.

One last point - if this was a title that was from a company Activision purchased, how did Activision ITSELF spend 15 million on it? Did they give Tim the money upfront and say something like "catch us later..."?

I just do not see how they can say "they" gave a game 15 million if they did not actually own it at the time. Can someone clear that up for me?

As for punishing other developers with a boycott, YES. DO IT. Yeah, it is not IW's fault Activision is being greedy, but understand that at some point, Activision WILL get to your title and do something that will piss you off like the Brutual Legend fans are right now. So you can not use that as an excuse. Activision would turn MW2 into "MW2: Tony Hawk Edition" in a New York minute if they thought it would earn them money.

Sorry to say that, but if you want Activision to completely understand your displeasure, then you have to express that across other things Activision makes as well.

GFWL - Because I do not remember when the Internet Gaming Community WANTED a "Hero" title EVERY MONTH for the last half of 2009. But it is looking that way, is it not?