The legal dispute between Snail Games and Myth of Empires developer Angela over supposedly stolen Ark: Survival Evolved source code appears to be at an end.
In a press release, Snail Games says it has reached a settlement with Angela that "marks the resolution of copyright and trade secret litigation" between the two companies.
The terms of the resolution will, according to Snail, "remain confidential", but the broad strokes are thus: Angela will pay ongoing royalties to Snail for Myth of Empires, and Snail will assist in that game's distribution.
In addition, Snail will withdraw its DMCA claim against Angela, and the two companies will work to re-release Myth of Empires in early 2024, with a console release also coming for the game at that time.
DLC and expansions for Myth of Empires are also in the works at Angela, so all in all, if you were hoping for the triumphant return of Myth of Empires after this dispute, it looks like you're in luck.
This saga began in late 2021, when Studio Wildcard and Snail Games filed a DMCA claim against Myth of Empires and Angela for allegedly stealing Ark: Survival Evolved's source code.
According to Studio Wildcard, "key employees" of Angela "worked at the Chinese parent of Snail Games", and "at least one of them had the credentials" allowing them to access the source code.
Myth of Empires subsequently returned to sale via its own launcher after being removed from Steam, and the dispute between the two companies continued.
Whatever the truth might have been behind the supposedly stolen Ark: Survival Evolved code (and the settlement's terms suggest that there may have been some truth to Studio Wildcard's accusations), it's nice to see the studios settling this issue and moving forward.
Myth of Empires will resurface on PC and consoles in 2024, and Ark: Survival Evolved is available to play right now across PC, consoles, and mobile devices.
