You know, I'd love to be talking about last instalments of games by Crytek or Cloud Imperium Games but since neither seem to be interested in launching anything other than lawsuits - here we are knee deep in game related legal matters.
Having said that, get ready to read about a whole lot of dismissals because the entire lawsuit has devolved into endless bickering, where Crytek seem to have pulled some quite deceitful and dirty punches. While I cannot say that Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) are themselves, they seem to have been fairly honest when it comes to the lawsuit.
Even though the judge refused to dismiss Crytek's lawsuit altogether, the German developer did get their legs swept out from underneath them in a matter of speaking. In case you haven't been following the case, the latest developments saw Crytek argue that CIG were legally obliged to exclusively use the CryEngine and since CIG switched to Amazon's Lumberyard, that the company was due punitive damages.
Unfortunately for Crytek, the judge dismissed both of these claims, since signing a contract to use an engine does not mean you're legally obliged to do so, come hell or high water. Since Crytek could not legally prove the validity of their stance, despite their best efforts to take just about every bit of the contract out of context and present it in different light, the judge waved away their claim for for punitive damages as well.
That does not mean the ordeal is over with, since the judge green-lighted Crytek's pursuit of injunctive relief and other damages. However, as things currently stand, their legal options to keep pestering CIG for switching to Lumberyard are getting fewer by the minute.
Ultimately though, one can see how Crytek would be bitter over how everything went down, not least for CIG's legal team doing a grand job on making sure that the initial contract protected the company from just about every conceivable scenario.
Cloud Imperium Games
Having said that, we're not sure why Crytek insists on the lawsuit that may ultimately cost them more than they got from CIG for CryEngine itself.
In case you're interested to learn more about the dismissal judge tennis between the two, you can refer to channel, which has been covering the case in great detail.
