Crytek sues CIG over breach of contract during development of Star Citizen & SQ42

[ItsMitch]

Crytek has filed a lawsuit against Cloud Imperium Games over breach of contract during the development of Star Citizen and SQ42

The source will be the legal paperwork which is located: HERE and an article which was launched by massivelyop.com 

Quote

 

“Crytek has not been compensated for Defendants’ unlicensed use of Crytek technology in the Squadron 42 game, and has been substantially harmed by being deprived of that compensation, which would ordinarily include a substantial up-front payment as well as a substantial royalty on game sales,” plaintiffs argue.

Furthermore, Crytek accuses CIG of deleting Crytek logos in marketing materials and splash screens around the same time studio head Chris Roberts began calling the game’s engine Star Engine rather than CryEngine, which itself was allegedly a breach of the original licensing agreement.

 

Some of the main points from the lawsuit:

Quote

On February 5, 2016, Crytek notified Defendants that their plan to distribute Squadron 42 as a standalone game was not covered by the GLA's license,  because the GLA did not grant Defendants a license to embed CryEngine in any game other than Star Citizen.
 
On February 14, 2016, Defendants moved forward with their plan for Squadron 42 notwithstanding their failure to obtain a license and began offering the video game for separate purchase. As a result, Defendants are intentionally and willfully using CryEngine without a license and in violation of copyright laws.
 
On December 23, 2016, in reference to Star Citizen and Squadron 42, Defendants announced that "other games are currently in development and are  backed by a record-breaking $139 million crowd-funded effort."

1

 

Crytek Inc is suing on 1 count of Breach of Contract and  1 count of Copyright Infringement and Crytek demand that they're awarded $75'000 in damages, including loss of profits, they also request that the defendants (Cloud Imperium Games) are issued a permanent injunction from the continuation of the work which will inadvertently destroy the development of Star Citizen and SQ42. It also appears that the defendants (CIG) are dragging their feet in refunding a backers $25'000 in pledges. [Source]

E:

 

 

Quote

 

“We are aware of the Crytek complaint having been filed in the US District Court. CIG hasn’t used the CryEngine for quite some time since we switched to Amazon’s Lumberyard. This is a meritless lawsuit that we will defend vigorously against, including recovering from Crytek any costs incurred in this matter.”

 

@Zando Bob is very sad, I'm sad, are we all sad?  What you think friends. 

[AresKrieger]

Never was going to get finished anyway

[Bananasplit_00]

well its not like this game was ever going to be finished anyway, but i guess its a bit sad that they breached all this stuff i guess? looked like it could be a fun game, or rather prepetual beta of a fun game

[Delicieuxz]

But Star Citizen is using Amazon's Lumberyard (based on CryEngine), now. Does that still require a license from Crytek?

 

Also, Squadron 42 is probably going to be argued by CryTek to be a part of Star Citizen - and that's what I've been thinking it is this whole time - just like tons of games have single player and multiplayer components.

 

CryTek would make themselves the target of a lot of hate and bad PR if they were the cause of Squadron 42 being canned - and would probably incur a whole lot more in monetary damages than simply $75,000, which is basically the annual salary of one moderately-experienced developer.

 

Also, what "loss of profits" are referred to, if there's an injunction against further Squadron 42 development? Unless it releases, and there would have been royalty payments, there are none.

 

For sure, something will be worked out where Squadron 42 will still be completed and release - either by retroactively acquiring a license from CryTek, or by porting to another engine (but that already was done, with Lumberyard)?

[PCMasterDebater]

Star Citizen - Excellent concept with all the wrong people creating it.

Its just another bloated company taking in as much capital to maintain high salaries for management to bleed the company dry before claiming bankruptcy. The game was never going to be released.

[ItsMitch]

Just now, Delicieuxz said:

But Star Citizen is using Amazon's Lumberyard (based on CryEngine), now. Does that still require a license from Crytek?

 

That's the straw that broke the camels back

 

[Delicieuxz]

6 minutes ago, SC2Mitch said:

That's the straw that broke the camels back

 

I guess that CIG is going to seek a settlement, and then continue development of Star Citizen with Squadron 42. That, or they're going to spend some months porting the entire project back to CryEngine. Or, they might argue against an injunction, and if they're successful, then they'll continue developing the game while letting CryTek's lawsuit play out in the background, and pay whatever damages they're required to from post-release Star Citizen profits. The worst case for gamers would be them losing a no-injunction argument, and then actually putting Squadron 42 on hold.

[ItsMitch]

UPDATE:

 

Official statement coming from CIG 

“We are aware of the Crytek complaint having been filed in the US District Court. CIG hasn’t used the CryEngine for quite some time since we switched to Amazon’s Lumberyard. This is a meritless lawsuit that we will defend vigorously against, including recovering from Crytek any costs incurred in this matter.”

Seems fishy because they promised to only use CryEngine? 

[ItsMitch]

3 minutes ago, Delicieuxz said:

I guess that CIG is going to seek a settlement, and then continue development of Star Citizen with Squadron 42. That, or they're going to spend some months porting the entire project back to CryEngine. Or, they might argue against an injunction, and if they're successful, then they'll continue developing the game while letting CryTek's lawsuit play out in the background, and pay whatever damages they're required to from post-release Star Citizen profits. The worst case for gamers would be them losing a no-injunction argument, and then actually putting Squadron 42 on hold.

With the statement they provided to MO they just admitted to switching to another engine after promising Crytek they wouldn't so I think they just dug a deeper grave for themselves. 

[Delicieuxz]

24 minutes ago, SC2Mitch said:

Official statement coming from CIG 

“We are aware of the Crytek complaint having been filed in the US District Court. CIG hasn’t used the CryEngine for quite some time since we switched to Amazon’s Lumberyard. This is a meritless lawsuit that we will defend vigorously against, including recovering from Crytek any costs incurred in this matter.”

"Meritless" and "vigorously defend" / "defend vigorously" are some of the most generic PR statements given against a lawsuit.

 

19 minutes ago, SC2Mitch said:

With the statement they provided to MO they just admitted to switching to another engine after promising Crytek they wouldn't so I think they just dug a deeper grave for themselves. 

They might have an argument to go against CryTek's in that regard. They might argue that the context of "exclusively" is meant to indicate something else, such as that CIG may not share usage of CryEngine via their license with another studio, or use it for another project.

 

Also, since CIG owns their game assets, they probably could, as a last resort, just rename the project to something else, so that it's no longer "Star Citizen," and side-step a requirement to use CryEngine for Star Citizen

[pas008]

7 minutes ago, Delicieuxz said:

"Meritless" and "vigorously defend" / "defend vigorously" are some of the most generic PR statements given against a lawsuit.

 

They might have an argument to go against CryTek's in that regard. They might argue that the context of "exclusively" is meant to indicate something else, such as that CIG may not share usage of CryEngine via their license with another studio, or use it for another project.

 

Also, since CIG owns their game assets, they probably could, as a last resort, just rename the project to something else, so that it's no longer "Star Citizen," and side-step a requirement to use CryEngine for Star Citizen

what?

wouldnt the data and game still be heavily documented as it though

[Delicieuxz]

7 minutes ago, pas008 said:

what?

wouldnt the data and game still be heavily documented as it though

The game assets belong to CIG. If the condition is only that "Star Citizen" must use CryEngine, than anything that isn't "Star Citizen" is not bound to that term. The assets are not "Star Citizen," unless they're branded as such.

 

Other developers in the past have rebranded their assets under a different title to avoid licensing issues.

[Mihle]

Crytek needs money.

Curious about how this will end

 

[ItsMitch]

5 minutes ago, Mihle said:

Crytek needs money.

Curious about how this will end

 

I don't think it's necessarily about the money, if it was Crytek would be demanding more money in compensation for damages aside from $75'000. 

[Trixanity]

In a way this could be considered a grey area. I mean Lumberyard is in many ways CryEngine (I'll admit I'm not well versed in the differences between the two). So I'm guessing they could argue that they're still using CryEngine under a different name and that Amazon is a new middle man. Legal technicalities are fun (well, not really).

 

Anyway, that's about as far as I care about that subject.

[HalGameGuru]

Conspiracy Theory:

Amazon told CIG to go ahead with this setup to get CryTek to argue in court that Lumberyard is not CryEngine thereby putting CIG in breach but giving amazon the ability to use that argument in court to deprive CryTek of any future input or derivatives from Lumberyard freeing up tons of capital for Amazon allowing them to cover any costs incurred by CIG in losing their court case.

[pas008]

1 hour ago, Delicieuxz said:

The game assets belong to CIG. If the condition is only that "Star Citizen" must use CryEngine, than anything that isn't "Star Citizen" is not bound to that term. The assets are not "Star Citizen," unless they're branded as such.

 

Other developers in the past have rebranded their assets under a different title to avoid licensing issues.

Have links or articles on this?

[Trik'Stari]

Oh great.

 

The most optimistic PC game of all time, one that would showcase what modern tech is actually capable of, is probably now doomed thanks to nay-sayers and an impatient company that couldn't have just secured an agreement for "compensation once the game is officially launched"

[AresKrieger]

22 minutes ago, Trik'Stari said:

Oh great.

 

The most ambitious PC game of all time, one that would showcase what modern tech is actually capable of, is probably now doomed thanks to nay-sayers and an impatient company that couldn't have just secured an agreement for "compensation once the game is officially launched"

Think you meant to say that, but great ideas are often hindered by terrible execution of course that is assuming this wasn't a scam from the get go (which is a possibility given the likely outcome)

[Misanthrope]

2 hours ago, SC2Mitch said:

UPDATE:

 

Official statement coming from CIG 

“We are aware of the Crytek complaint having been filed in the US District Court. CIG hasn’t used the CryEngine for quite some time since we switched to Amazon’s Lumberyard. This is a meritless lawsuit that we will defend vigorously against, including recovering from Crytek any costs incurred in this matter.”

Seems fishy because they promised to only use CryEngine? 

P.D.....Please give us more money to defend this in court! No we won't commit to actually releasing shit..just...don't think about it just hand over the fucking cash plebs.

[bowrilla]

Well … of course Crytek has to say that CIG violated GLA terms. That's the whole damn point of that lawsuit. The question remains: did GLA 2.12 actually say what Crytek claims it said in a legally binding way? We'll have to wait for a ruling I guess. Still, demanding a project to be shut down is pretty pointless. They either get paid and compensated and CIG can do whatever they please or at least the whole project will just get rebranded. Nobody in their right mind could be stupid enough to sign an agreement to exclusively use software x and otherwise being doomed to shut it all down. It wouldn't surprise me if there were loopholes in the GLA that might qualify 2.12. Something that might require Crytek to deliver always up to date leading technologies compared with

@HalGameGuru's "conspiracy theory" is also interesting though. They recognized Lumberjack as a different technology and competitor engine. 

[kirashi]

6 hours ago, SC2Mitch said:

--SNIP--

@Zando Bob is very sad, I'm sad, are we all sad?  What you think friends. 

I think it's both great to see CryTek stand up for themselves, but also sad that software is even released under restrictive licenses these days. I'm not Richard Stallman nor am I a crazy FSF person, however, the more open and available software is, the better we can improve its' security, functionality, and overall user experience.

6 hours ago, AresKrieger said:

Never was going to get finished anyway

5 hours ago, Bananasplit_00 said:

well its not like this game was ever going to be finished anyway, but i guess its a bit sad that they breached all this stuff i guess? looked like it could be a fun game, or rather prepetual beta of a fun game

Exactly. At this point, I'm convinced it's a money laundering scheme, since we're going into 6 years now with no game release.

EDIT: Sarcasm is heavy in the above sentence, but, similar to kickstarter campaigns, until I see a released product, it's a little concerning to see how much money they've raised without a released product compared to PUBG, for example.

 

5 hours ago, Delicieuxz said:

But Star Citizen is using Amazon's Lumberyard (based on CryEngine), now. Does that still require a license from Crytek?

--SNIP--

IANAL, but one would hope CryTek was smart enough to work out an agreement with Amazon when they licensed CryEngine to them for Lumberyard. Otherwise, it's very possible that the below conspiracy theory is true, as I wouldn't put it past Amazon to do something like this so they can free Lumberyard from CryTek's licensing for good.

3 hours ago, HalGameGuru said:

Conspiracy Theory:

Amazon told CIG to go ahead with this setup to get CryTek to argue in court that Lumberyard is not CryEngine thereby putting CIG in breach but giving amazon the ability to use that argument in court to deprive CryTek of any future input or derivatives from Lumberyard freeing up tons of capital for Amazon allowing them to cover any costs incurred by CIG in losing their court case.

 

[Derangel]

21 minutes ago, kirashi said:

I think it's both great to see CryTek stand up for themselves, but also sad that software is even released under restrictive licenses these days. I'm not Richard Stallman nor am I a crazy FSF person, however, the more open and available software is, the better we can improve its' security, functionality, and overall user experience.

Game engines are not retail/completed software, they're APIs. Also, you can download CryEngine and its source code for free. You can even make and sell a game made with the free version and not have to pay Crytek any royalties, but Crytek will also offer zero support beyond the information on the CryEngine website.

[Hawx]

It's a pretty interesting case. Crytek's complaint of course is designed to bolster their position as much as possible. CIG's response to the claims will be important but has yet to happen.

4 hours ago, Delicieuxz said:

That, or they're going to spend some months porting the entire project back to CryEngine. 

Wouldn't really take months, CIG would just do the same thing they did for the Lumberyard move, as in rebase their years of changes on to CE 3.7. The only item to be cut would be the proprietary fog tech they took from lumberyard. 

 

1 hour ago, kirashi said:

Exactly. At this point, I'm convinced it's a money laundering scheme, since we're going into 6 years now with no game release.

The game isn't out so therefore it's a money laundering scheme? lmao. CIG is paying for the operations of 5 studios and over 400 personnel. They also get extensively audited by both the UK and US governments for their tax credits each year, and the co-founder is a well respected entertainment lawyer. What a ridiculous statement.

 

1 hour ago, kirashi said:

IANAL, but one would hope CryTek was smart enough to work out an agreement with Amazon when they licensed CryEngine to them for Lumberyard. Otherwise, it's very possible that the below conspiracy theory is true, as I wouldn't put it past Amazon to do something like this so they can free Lumberyard from CryTek's licensing for good.

Amazon did a full buyout of CryEngine at the time, to the tune of $75 million. Amazon has full rights to the engine and isn't bound by anything to do with Crytek, nor has to pay Crytek any continuous fees.

[RagnarokDel]

4 hours ago, Delicieuxz said:

Also, Squadron 42 is probably going to be argued by CryTek to be a part of Star Citizen - and that's what I've been thinking it is this whole time - just like tons of games have single player and multiplayer components.

 I thought Squadron 42 was the campaign for Star Citizen lol