games

https://www.polygon.com/2020/2/21/21147664/crytek-star-citizen-lawsuit-cloud-imperium-games-roberts-space-industries-cryengine-squadron-42

Cloud Imperium Games, the developer and publisher of Star Citizen, and Crytek told a judge this week they’ve settled a 2-year-old lawsuit over the game’s use of CryEngine 3.

The notice, filed on Thursday, doesn’t mention terms of the settlement and isn’t required to. Crytek and CIG likewise have made no announcements about the suit. Polygon reached out to representatives of both companies for comment, but the messages were not returned as of publication time.

The filing says the two sides reached an agreement in principle to settle the case, and are “working to document the terms of their agreement.” They expect to make a joint motion to dismiss the case within 30 days.

Crytek sued Cloud Imperium Games and Roberts Space Industries, the companies founded by Star Citizen creator Chris Roberts, in December 2017. In its complaint, Crytek alleged that Star Citizen’s developers were using CryEngine 3 for both the main game and the single-player Squadron 42, which Cloud Imperium Games considers to be a separate game from Star Citizen. Crytek said that use violated the contract it had with CIG and RSI.

CIG and RSI had announced in December 2016 that they were leaving CryEngine 3 for Amazon’s Lumberyard game engine. Crytek’s original complaint said that marketing materials showed both games were still running, at least partially, on CryEngine 3. Crytek also alleged that CIG and RSI failed to properly disclose modifications to the engine, per the licensing agreement, and improperly removed the engine’s logo from the games’ boot-up screen.

Cloud Imperium Games at the time called Crytek’s claim “a meritless lawsuit that we will defend vigorously against, including recovering from Crytek any costs incurred in this matter.”

At the end of 2019, Crytek made a technical motion that attempted to reschedule a trial for October 2020, effectively saying that Squadron 42 wouldn’t be released before the trial’s original June 2020 date. Squadron 42, a single-player narrative adventure starring Mark Hamill, Gillian Anderson, Gary Oldman, and John Rhys-Davies, has been in development since the beginning of Star Citizen itself. Cloud Imperium Games’ most recent guidance on when Squadron 42 might be available to the public said that a beta may be released in the third quarter of this year.

Star Citizen, which began life with a successful $2.1 million Kickstarter in 2012, has raised more than $260 million in contributions from 2.5 million donors since then. Star Citizen itself is still considered by its makers to be in an alpha state. At the end of 2018, Cloud Imperium targeted a summer 2020 launch for Squadron 42, following a $46 million investment from billionaire record producer Clive Calder and his son Keith.

Crytek and Cloud Imperium Games’ notice is below, followed by a judge’s order pertinent to that notice.