Star Citizen Discussions v7

Your average case assumes CIG has 'tens of millions' laying around. That is far from a given. Very, very far.

I wonder if CR's revolutionary "I plan the development goals based on month-to-month fundraising performance" management technique takes into account multi-million dollar lawsuits.
 
As for your first line, that's what I meant earlier. If the defence against the content of the agreement is that it doesn't apply because they stopped using CryEngine, I can't wait to hear the defence against the clause that says they can't stop using CryEngine.

It gets better.....as I understand it, CIG did both.

First, by switching in parts of Lumberyard they violated the "no engine change" and "exclusive engine" clauses.
Second, by using the same engine (even if it had parts of Lumberyard switched in so they could use AWS and so on) they used one engine to create two separate games

Whether that will hold up in court is another question, but they are guilty of something.

Lumberyard is based on CryEngine though it has a different name.

I think it's about how much of the license agreement was violated before CIG switched to Lumberyard.

No...I think it's the fact they are still using "Star Engine"...aka CryEngine...and have simply switched in parts from another engine thereby breaking both clauses.
 
I always suspected that the ELE for CIG would come from 'left field', which is exactly where this has come from.

Is this the ELE? No-one knows. However it looks worrying on a number of compounding levels:

- Superficially CryTek look to have a number of decent arguments, have employed some heavy-weight lawyers, and (if naming Ortwin) have likely sidelined Ortwin from providing free council (even if he wanted to)
- Amazon and Couttes will also be looking into this in depth and with urgent concern as there is zero sentiment in business - it is all and only about money
- Investor confidence will be hit, no matter how deep whales dive, law suits frighten people away
- The press for SC/SQ42 will cover this, compounding any existing concerns
- Staff and prospective employees will be worried, damaging morale and their ability to retain/attract talent
- This will drain both CIG's money and management focus (sadly the latter might actually help...)

I suspect it will get resolved out-of-court, but as others have said, if I was hip-deep in trouble and this came along, well, it's a damn good parachute to deploy as I head down to my new pad somewhere in the sunny Caribbean.

On a trivial level, I can't wait for their Christmas livestream. Brought to you this year from underneath the arches of Waterloo bridge. Bring your own bottle of sherry. Chris will provide all the handwavium.

p.s. sorry but I've run out of rep for pretty much everyone here
 
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On a trivial level, I can't wait for their Christmas livestream. Brought to you this year from underneath the arches of Waterloo bridge. Bring your own bottle of sherry. Chris will provide all the handwavium.

Dear Miles has already staked out the spot.

star-citizen-miles-eckhart-bug.png
 
I've just realised something...
From the filing:

13. Chris Roberts, a video game designer, and Ortwin Freyermuth, an
entertainment lawyer, founded Defendants. On October 10, 2012, Defendants
initiated a crowdfunding campaign to raise money for Star Citizen, a game to be
developed by Defendants.
14. At significant time and expense, Crytek created demonstrations and
proofs-of-concept for Defendants related to Star Citizen, and Defendants used those
materials as part of the crowdfunding campaign for Star Citizen.
15. On November 20, 2012, Crytek and Defendants entered into a Game
License Agreement ("GLA") with Crytek.

And

36. Section 2.1.2 of the GLA contained a critical promise from Defendants
that they would not develop the Star Citizen video game using any other video game
engines.
37. Section 2.1.2 of the GLA states that Defendants have a license only to
"exclusively embed CryEngine in the Game."

Now, I've been working on the assumption that they somehow managed to fluff activating the termination clause. However...

For years we've been scratching our heads over the bizarre decision not to write their own engine, when they had enough hard cash to do so a dozen times - but what if there was no termination clause? What if Ortwin "here's your money Mr Costner" Freyermuth forgot to put one in or ask for one? And they've been stuck trying to cobble this rubbish together on a hopelessly unsuitable engine (with laughable results) ever since. And now Crytek have enough money for lawyers again, so...

I don't know, of course, but it fits. And it would be hilarious.

Asp - Encore de lulzbuckets, s'il vous plaît.
 
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I've just realised something...
From the filing:



And



Now, I've been working on the assumption that they somehow managed to fluff activating the termination clause. However...

For years we've been scratching our heads over the bizarre decision not to write their own engine, when they had enough hard cash to do so a dozen times - but what if there was no termination clause? What if Ortwin "here's your money Mr Costner" Freyermuth forgot to put one in or ask for one? And they've been stuck trying to cobble this rubbish together on an hopelessly unsuitable engine (with laughable results) ever since. And now Crytek have enough money for lawyers again, so...

I don't know, of course, but it fits. And it would be hilarious.

Asp - Encore de lulzbuckets, s'il vous plaît.


Wait, but what about the fidelitah talks and everything? It was all a lie !?
 
At deposition, just imagine the poor stenographer trying to put the handwaving on record.

I have the transcript. Here's a section:

..errr....
...nope....
....dunno...
..smoothing, something, smoke, something something, yoga...
...st vitus's dance, that is that a thing, right...
....has he been drinking?...
..trying to stop a taxi...
...obscure French mime...
....oh god I just remembered that I need to send a birthday card to my cousin Jaqui, damnit, where's my to do list... meh that bloke's still waving his hands... ...well, I'll just record it here...
..damn, I need to sort out my nails, they look dreadful...
...hang on, even I know inertia doesn't work like that...
....I wonder what's on TED talks...
..Is anyone else playing 'fidelity' bingo...
...I think the judge fancies me, no really...

I would post more, but I'd be in breach of court.
 
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At deposition, just imagine the poor stenographer trying to put the handwaving on record.

PROSECUTOR: And what did you do then Mr Roberts?
ROBERTS: Errm, �� �� ���� err ����☛✋��
PROSECUTOR: I see.

Edit: aww, C'mon Fdev, update your unicode...
 
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