Activision Suing To Stop Brutal Legend

08 Jun 2009 at 15:21:40 by Tim McDonald

Activision is taking legal steps to prevent the release of Double Fine's Brutal Legend.

The lawsuit appeared on Wednesday 3 June, with Activision claiming that Double Fine transferred publishing rights to Electronic Arts despite them still being owned by Activision, according to the Associated Press. Activision alleges that they have invested $15 million USD into the game and still have a valid contract to release the game.

The publishing giant further alleges that Double Fine missed a deadline last year, and then stated that it would require a further nine months and $7 million USD in order to complete the game. No agreement was reached, but Activision contends that it never relinquished its publishing rights, and that Double Fine should not have transferred the rights to EA.

EA is not named in the filing and has refused to comment to Associated Press. Double Fine's president, Tim Schafer, commented "Hey, if Activision liked it, then they should have put a ring on it," before adding "Oh great, now Beyonce is going to sue me too."

This is all rather a shame, as Brutal Legend is shaping up to be something quite special. Keep your eyes open for our hands-on preview from E3, but if you can't wait, then check out our video interview with Tim Schafer and our preview from earlier this year.

If all of this is resolved, then the game will be released on 16 Rocktober.

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