Activision Sues EA Over Ownership Of Brutal Legend Video Game

from the hey,-look,-free-advertising! dept

Back in February, we wrote about the saga of the video game Brutal Legend, which was being developed by game studio Double Fine, with an agreement for Vivendi Games to publish it. However, following Vivendi's merger with Activision, the new company had dropped plans to release the game, leading Double Fine to go in search of another publisher -- which it found in Activision's biggest rival, EA. Except... suddenly Activision claimed it still owned the rights to publish the game even though it had no intention to actually do so. Apparently nothing came of that discussion until now... just as EA has ramped up its promotion of Brutal Legend, Activision has sued. Back in February, EA's statement on the matter had been:

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.

Apparently, EA calculated incorrectly. In the end, this is a contractual dispute -- and the results will very much depend on the details of any agreement between Double Fine and Vivendi. However, it would be quite silly for Double Fine to have agreed to a deal with Vivendi that didn't allow for an out if Vivendi decided not to publish the game. Of course, it doesn't sound like Double Fine is taking this too seriously either. Its response to the lawsuit?

"Hey, if Activision liked it, they should have put a ring on it. Oh great, now Beyonce is going to sue me too."

They sure do like those marriage analogies.

Filed Under: brutal legend, jack black, ownership, video games