Rock-Blocked: Activision is suing Double Fine for Breach of Contract; Wants to stop release
On Wednesday, Yahoo! reported that Activision has sued Double Fine in an attempt to obtain damages and to stop the release of the game. Activision claims to have put in at least $15M to invest in the game and that it still has rights to publish the game.
The timeline is as such: Sierra, original publisher of Brutal Legend, is in engulfed in the Activision-Blizzard merger, which causes a ton of properties from Sierra to be dropped, including Brutal Legend. Double Fine goes to look for new publishers, despite Activision trying to block the acquisition process. EA Partners comes to acquire publishing rights to the game. Activision sues Double Fine to stop publishing of the game.
Brad’s Take: After such a strong showing at E3 this year, it seems almost…childish that Activision would do this now. After revealing an October release date and EA is putting up big money to market the game, it almost seems like a crude, very screwed up powerplay on Activision’s part.
Now, with the legal documentation not for public eye, I can’t scrutinize too much on the problem at hand. But it does seem odd that Activision is suing over the distribution of a game that they jettisoned out of their line-up last year after the ActiBlizzard merger. If Activision’s claim is unfounded, then they will look awfully petty.
