Too Human developer files lawsuit against Epic
So far, the week following E3 has, in some ways, been more eventful than the actual conference. Dozens of unexpected announcements, from the cancellation of X07 to the retiring of Peter Moore, have startled gamers across the globe. A new development, however, may be the most strange of all. Silicon Knights, creator of the up-and-coming Too Human franchise, has today filed a lawsuit against Epic Games (the developer of Unreal Tournament and Gears of War) for allegedly selling watered down licenses of the Unreal Engine 3 to developers.
Since the lawsuit is still in its early stages, lawyers have recommended that Epic Games not comment on their defense to the case. That doesn’t mean that Denis Dyack, founder of the company, has refrained from making several statements. Dyack notes that “We stand behind everything in our complaint and believe it is highly unfortunate that Epic forced us into this situation. We would rather spend our time focusing on making great games, but as stated in our complaint, Epic simply refuses to acknowledge the inadequacies of the Unreal Engine 3 code it provides to its licensees,” he said, “and refuses to accept the fact that its code has caused serious damage not only to Silicon Knights, but a number of other developers in the industry. We look forward to successful resolution of our claims in this court proceeding.” Silicon Knights has demanded that through a trial by jury, Epic Games must relinquish all profits made from Gears of War sales as compensation for damages to the Too Human development.
Too Human, originally in development for the original Playstation, has been delayed dozens of times prior to its stay on the Xbox 360. Part of these delays, Silicon Knights claims, happened because of Epic’s distribution and coding of UE3. AT E3 2006, Too Human was criticized for it’s graphics engine, which runs on UE3; Dyack claims that his company “has lost revenue as a result of the considerable delay in developing its video game for the Xbox 360, Too Human, because Unreal Engine 3, a game engine licensed from Epic, did not work as Epic represented it would and, moreover, Epic has been unable or unwilling to fix it.” Also, the lawsuit states that Epic Games used a more polished version of the engine for their hit title, Gears of War, keeping essential functionality of the engine to themselves while garnering all of the positive press.
Of course, none of the statements made by Denis Dyack include proven substantiation, so be sure to take the above statements with a grain of salt for the time being (or at least until the actual case begins). In the Unreal Engine 3 terms and conditions, the agreement specifically states that the “engine will not build itself,” as with all other licensed graphic engines. This lawsuit may be significant reason as to why Silicon Knights has again delayed the title into 2008: the developers will obviously have to work with a new engine or wait for a resolution in the mean time. Be sure to check out the complete press release, which is located below.
SILICON KNIGHTS SUES EPIC OVER UNSATISFACTORY PERFORMANCE OF UNREAL ENGINE 3
ST. CATHARINES, ONTARIO, CANADA, July 19th, 2007 - Video game developer Silicon Knights, Inc. has filed suit against Epic Games, Inc. for breach of contract, fraud, and several other tort claims in federal court in Greenville, North Carolina. In the lawsuit, Silicon Knights alleges that it has lost revenue as a result of the considerable delay in developing its video game for the Xbox 360, Too Human, because Unreal Engine 3, a game engine licensed from Epic, did not work as Epic represented it would and, moreover, Epic has been unable or unwilling to fix it.
As Denis Dyack, President and Founder of Silicon Knights, explained, “Our strong preference is to focus on making games, not be in court. Unfortunately though, as explained in our lawsuit, we have had extensive problems with the Unreal Engine 3 that Epic has been unwilling or unable to rectify. For more than a year, we have been trying to reach an agreement with Epic to resolve these issues without resorting to litigation, but were unable to come to reasonable terms with Epic. Regrettably, we are now forced to go to court in order to achieve satisfaction. We remain hopeful, however, that we can reach a reasonable business resolution with Epic at some point.”
The lawsuit further alleges that Epic in fact never intended to deliver Unreal Engine 3 as a fully functional game engine as promised. Instead, Epic collected licensing fees from Silicon Knights and others in order to fund the development of its own video game, Gears of War. “No doubt Gears is a fun and phenomenally successful game, but as we alleged in our complaint against them, we strongly believe that from the perspective of someone waiting for a game engine that Epic promised it would deliver almost two years ago, it seems pretty clear that Gears was built on the backs of the Unreal Engine licensees. We certainly stand by our allegations in the lawsuit that instead of using our licensing fees to develop and support the Unreal Engine 3, Epic used that money to build Gears,” said Mr. Dyack.
Based on Epic’s website and press releases, it appears that Epic has sold licenses to Unreal Engine 3 to over 150 video game developers and publishers. For more information about this lawsuit, contact Chris Holland, Partner at the law firm of Krieg, Keller, Sloan, Reilley & Roman, LLP in San Francisco, California.
Fucking hell. Imagine if Silicon won? I’m no lawyer, but it sounds like they have a pretty good case against Epic, if what they say is true.
I’m no lawyer either, but silicon knights cant blame their lame ass delays time and time and time and time and time again on epic.
SI apparently overpromised, underdelivered, and now that the bills are piling up, they are looking for an easy out.
I hope they lose, that game looks like crap anyway, and as long as it’s been in development (before they even bothered with the unreal engine I imagine), they have no one to blame but their lame ass selves.
WTF! I can’t see how they have a case here. So what if Epic enhanced the engine for GoW. GoW was built on the UE3, it wasn’t THE UE3? Game developers ALWAYS enhance the engines that they license - that’s their fucking JOB!
Sounds like the lazy tossers at SI want the engine to basically be the game they were making and hope epic write it for them. Twats.
You don’t request a trial by jury if you got your facts straight. It’s a fishy huge mess with no hard evidence.
But other than that and in light of recent events, I found this to be quite interesting. Both developers are in bed with Microsoft Game Studios lashing out at each other over something that was pretty much paid for by Microsoft
That is something you keep under wraps at all cost. And if Microsoft wanted to they could settle this easily and quietly. This seems like a very desperate move by Silicon Knights. Now why would they do something like this ?
You’ve got to be kidding me. They have NO case. It’s their fault they can’t get their shit together, and now their blaming it on an engine that’s already proved itself with games like:
* Aliens — (2009) Gearbox Software
* America’s Army 3.0 — (2008) US Army
* APB — (2008) Webzen
* Black Powder Red Earth - (2007) Echelon Studios
* Brothers In Arms: Hell’s Highway — (2007) Gearbox Software[34]
* BioShock - (2007) Irrational Games
* BlackSite: Area 51 — (2007) Midway Austin
* DC Comics MMO — (TBA) Sony Online Entertainment
* Earth No More — (2009) Recoil Games / 3D Realms
* Elveon — (2007) 10tacle Studios[35]
* Fatal Inertia — (2007) Koei[36]
* Frontlines: Fuel of War — (2008) Kaos Studios
* Fury — (2007) Auran[37]
* Gears of War — (2006) Epic Games
* Huxley — (2007) Webzen Games[38]
* The Last Remnant — (2008) Square Enix
* Lineage III — (TBA) NCsoft[39]
* Lost Odyssey — (2007) Mistwalker[40]
* Mass Effect — (2007) BioWare[41]
* Medal of Honor: Airborne — (2007) Electronic Arts[42]
* Monster Madness: Battle for Suburbia — (2007) Artificial Studios[43]
* RoboBlitz — (2006) Naked Sky Entertainment[44]
* Rogue Warrior: Black Razor - (2007) Bethesda Softworks
* Stargate Worlds — (2007) Cheyenne Mountain Entertainment[45]
* Stranglehold — (2007) Midway Chicago[46]
* To End All Wars — (2008) Kuju Entertainment [47] [48]
* Tom Clancy’s EndWar — (2008) Ubisoft
* Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas — (2006) Ubisoft
* Turning Point: Fall of Liberty — (2007) Spark Unlimited
* Turok — (2008) Propaganda Games
* Undertow — (2007) Chair Entertainment
* Unreal Tournament 3 — (2007) Epic Games
* Hour Of Victory — (2007) Midway Games
* Upcoming Mortal Kombat 8 Game — (Unknown) Midway Games
* The Wheelman — (2007) Midway Games
* HEI$T — (2007) InXile Entertainment
Yea, some case they have. Not to mention that the sum would be chump change for Epic. But it doesn’t matter at all since SK has less than no case.
*and now THEY’RE blaming…
theyve delayed this so many times there just looking 4 an excuse this time cause they thougt it looked good released it at e3 and evrey1 relised how shit THE GAMEPLAY was and slagged it
but cause the engine was shit there suing epic which they have no right to do so since like evrey other preview of a title they claimed it was not the final copy and therefore by claiming it would be better have admmited that there was posibilites to impeve at the time of publish of that video that has been refered 2
also didnt they use UE3 for that new vid and if that hasnt been “repired by epic” then isnt it there fault they couldnt get it like that the 1st time??… yes ,yes it is
sorry about the constant spelling mistakes, im very sleepy
NEED COFFEE
uhhh ohhh, if epic loses all their profits from GoW 1 they may have to cancel GoW 2 due to insufficient funds for development and employees, that would suck sooooooooo bad!
shit…i was looking forward to this game. now it prob won’t be out for awhile…nutz
i hope epic dies.
they arent a person
i mean the company.
Cliffy might have to sell his Lambo…what a drag.
That would be Mark’s …..
I’m not talking to epic for awhile because of this ps3 timed exclusive Unreal Tournament crap. I’m all for adding nails to the ps3’s coffin…
GOW was cool but screw epic and there love of the ps3 and pc, whats all this about 5 extra chaperts on the pc and UR3 a timed exclusive, seems to me that they milked MS and them screwed them over
Some Random Guy, to put this into perspective, many PS3 users were just as pissed off as you are, when they heard that DMC4 was no longer an exclusive. Granted this is a slightly different story, but the outcome is the same. Many PS3 users cursed the name of Capcom, just like many of you curse Epic. It’s actually quite funny. This hypocrisy, this irony. I, myself, am a PS3 user and I’m proud to point out your hypocrisy to you via my PS3 WEB BROWSER.
But I’m getting sidetracked. This news could be taken in a number of different ways, but I like my interpretation of it: SiK is feeling bitter about how well the UE3 has been re-engineered for better compatibility with the PS3. If they had known I’m fairly certain the game would have been for Xbox360, PC, and PS3, with content-interchangeability for PC, and PS3. Why? Because user-generated content is a big draw for a lot of gamers; more drawn gamers between the two consoles and PC, ultimately means more money; to be continued
Quick, someone steal his soap box.
Amusing that the only thing you have worthwile to do on your PS3 is post on a 360 site on your web browser, no games?
LOL
Nice
You know how ue3 games have to say “powered by unreal engine” wouldn’t it be great if too human had a statement similar to “powered by a REAL engine”…bitches
http://www.encyclopediadr.../images/b/b8/Lolmouth.jpg
“Silicon Knights has demanded that through a trial by jury, Epic Games must relinquish all profits made from Gears of War sales as compensation for damages to the Too Human development.”
That’s a LOT of money. Epic may even go into debt…
You can’t blame Epic for delays of a game originally developed for the PS1. Obviously they were having problems way before the UE3 came along. I cant believe they are using them as a scapegoat. Get back to work bitches before this game becomes a luanch title for the Xbox 1080 !
i dont get it who invented ue3?
Epic.
You guys haven’t considered Epic’s inevitable counter suit that could fuck a small developer like Silicon Knights royally. I am all for SK on this one. Down with Epic and Cliffy B, I never liked that dude.
Yeah! Down with the guys that created one of the best games on the 360! How dare they live up to the hype that was created by their own exciting game! Screw all their hard work!
How would they prove this? what they would get the real UE3 from Epic and test it against the version SI got? What if Epic dumbs there version down or SI changes the code to seem inferior to the version Epic gave them originally. SI needs another company to come forward out of 150 it would help thee case. I watched the Too Human trailer lastnight a Gears rip-off it ain’t.
I doubt they have given out a dumbed down version, probably more likely that when making GoW they enhanced the existing engine whereas SK expected the standard unenhanced engine to make them a game up to the quality of GoW straight out the box.
Lazy.
did any of you actually read the press release? this isnt about anyone upset that the engine didnt build there game its about epic selling the engine to other companys and instead of putting the money they recieved back into development of the engine they used it to build their own game. thats a big no no in any buisness and there are laws against it. i would rather not see any of these companys fail, but with all of these allegations coming out it sure makes sence why too human wasnt shown at E3 and how other things are shaping up for microsft. imagine being in the middle of this showdown beetween these two companies. doesnt look good for anyone. cant wait to see if more campanies come forward.
If you hit up kotaku they have a copy of the suit that details everything! they seem to have a strong case as far as epic missing deadlines and keeping the “good” code all to themselves, I think one of the biggest reasons for this suit is because their original agreement with epic says SK is to use UE3 exclusively, meaning unless they win this suit or get a working EU3 code too human will never see the light of day. And if you think about it many of the eu3 games posted by Mr. Jackson above have been delayed for “unknown reasons” i.e. EU3 SuX0rS
This is a tough call on this one with the limited knowledge that we have on this.
If they (SK) were relying on a product (UE3) that did not perform as expected and there were issues with the code then they have a case. Them (SK) asking for profits from GOW is stupid and petty they should just say that they’re seeking financial restitution.
I want to be first with this:
This suit will never see the inside of a courtroom. It will be settled our of court for an undisclosed sum of $$$$$.
Denis Dyack is a moron and Silicon Knights should lose this case hands down. Give me a break. All Denis and his bootleg company ever do is whine and complaint. Do us all a favor and SHUT UP Denis. This fool never takes responsibility for anything.
Your game was crap at E3, it was the media’s fault. Too Human was to come out on previous Nintendo system, it was Nintendo’s fault. Your game got delayed from a prior launch, it was MS fault. Now it got delayed to 2008, it Epic’s fault.
The dumbest crap I’ve ever heard is that they want the earnings from Gears of War as payment. Not a specic amount they had lost due to supposedly bad service from Epic.
Save us the drama Denis. Your game has been a crap shoot from day one several systems ago and now it’s not coming together. Own up to it. You guys had on good hit in Eternal Darkness. Sounds to me like an Overrated company that a sore loser since he can’t get his game to work.
Thanks for that comment 3 years after with your spam bot.
But the bump on this thread did remind me about this game, any actual word about a sequel since it was the worst actual ending to a game, ever.