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Epic Opens Counterclaim Against Silicon Knights

You may recall the recent announcement of Silicon Knights' suit against Epic over the Unreal engine. The Escapist reports that Epic is firing back, launching a countersuit against SK and claiming this is all just a ploy to renegotiate their licensing deal. "In its counter-suit, however, Epic says that Silicon Knights was aware that the Unreal Engine 3 was still under development when the licensing deal was signed, and that new features would continue to be added as part of Epic's development of Gears of War. 'SK's lawsuit is a pretense,' [Epic's Mark] Rein said in his statement. 'SK does not have any valid claims against Epic. SK filed suit in a bid to renegotiate the License Agreement, in the hope that Epic will prefer that to the burden of responding to discovery and associated adverse publicity.' Epic is seeking minimum compensatory damages in excess of $650,000, as well as other injunctive relief."

3 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Bah! by Hench3 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    SK's original lawsuit is actually rather detailed: They lay out the case well and describe specific instances of Epic's breach of their agreement. I recommend actually reading SK's filing; it makes for interesting reading. The /. summaries are lacking in details, yes, but the linked articles/filings do provide a vast amount of detail. Try reading TFA next time.

  2. Re:Other game devs having problems? by grapeape · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I dunno but I have a hard time beliveing its just coincidence that every single game using the ue3 engine due to be released this year has hit at least one delay.

    Aliens -- (2009) Gearbox Software
    America's Army 3.0 -- (2008) US Army
    APB -- (2008) Webzen
    Black Powder Red Earth - (2007) Echelon Studios
    Brothers In Arms: Hell's Highway -- (2007) Gearbox Software
    BioShock - (2007) Irrational Games
    BlackSite: Area 51 -- (2007) Midway Austin
    DC Comics MMO -- (TBA) Sony Online Entertainment
    Earth No More -- (2009) Recoil Games / 3D Realms
    Elveon -- (2007) 10tacle Studios[35]
    Fatal Inertia -- (2007) Koei[36]
    Frontlines: Fuel of War -- (2008) Kaos Studios
    Fury -- (2007) Auran
    Gears of War -- (2006) Epic Games
    Global Agenda -- (TBA) Hi-Rez Studios
    Hour of Victory -- (2007) Midway Games
    Huxley -- (2007) Webzen Games
    The Last Remnant -- (2008) Square Enix
    Lineage III -- (TBA) NCsoft
    Lost Odyssey -- (2007) Mistwalker
    Mass Effect -- (2007) BioWare
    Medal of Honor: Airborne -- (2007) Electronic Arts
    Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia -- (2007) Artificial Studios
    RoboBlitz -- (2006) Naked Sky Entertainment
    Rogue Warrior: Black Razor - (2007) Bethesda Softworks
    Stargate Worlds -- (2007) Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment
    Stranglehold -- (2007) Midway Chicago
    The Scourge Project -- (N/A) Tragnarion Studios
    To End All Wars -- (2008) Kuju Entertainment
    Tom Clancy's EndWar -- (2008) Ubisoft
    Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Vegas -- (2006) Ubisoft
    Too Human -- (2009) Silicon Knights
    Turning Point: Fall of Liberty -- (2007) Spark Unlimited
    Turok -- (2008) Propaganda Games
    Undertow -- (2007) Chair Entertainment
    Unreal Tournament 3 -- (2007) Epic Games
    Upcoming Mortal Kombat 8 Game -- (Unknown) Midway Games
    The Wheelman -- (2007) Midway Games
    HEI$T -- (2007) InXile Entertainment

  3. So am I the only one by Sycraft-fu · · Score: 4, Interesting

    That is a little suspicious that every time an Epic vs SK story comes up, there is some AC that comes along and posts about how "very, very strong" the case is against Epic, without providing actual evidence?

    I am really starting to wonder if perhaps an employee of SK isn't coming here and trying to push their side of the story. I just find it odd that while there are plenty of named posters who question what is happening, and none seem to be sure (since there seem to be next to no facts out there) there's always an AC with a fairly consistent writing style that comes in and says how fucked Epic is and how strong SK's claims are.

    One would wonder why they would be unwilling to put some kind of identification to claims like that.