The ongoing Squadron 42 lawsuit may be going away for a while as a motion to dismiss has been filed. Surprisingly, said motion was not filed by the defendants who are making Star Citizen and other games — rather, it's been filed by the plaintiff.
As Eurogamer reports, Crytek originally sued CIG for breach of copyright over a rather simple issue — they had acquired a license to develop only a single game using the Crytek engine, but the existence of Squadron 42 shows that they are developing two.
If what Crytek is saying is true, then they may very well have a case here — so why are they trying to get the Squadron 42 lawsuit dismissed?
Why is Crytek Trying to Dismiss the Squadron 42 Lawsuit?
It might seem silly, but the actual damages caused by CIG's alleged misuses of a Cryengine license wouldn't necessarily amount to much. While they are indeed making a second game and Crytek claims they don't have a license for it, the game hasn't yet been released.
CIG, for its part, says that they've switched to Amazon's "Lumberyard" engine, but Crytek takes issue with this statement:
"This case has been marked by a pattern of CIG saying one thing in its public statements and another in this litigation," read a portion of Crytek's motion to dismiss. "For example, at the outset of this case, CIG had publicly claimed it had switched to using the Lumberyard Engine for both Star Citizen and Squadron 42, but was forced to confirm during this litigation that no such switch had taken place."
"Should CIG release Squadron 42 as a standalone game, the case would be in exactly the same position it is currently. In short, granting Crytek's voluntary dismissal now would do nothing more than allow Crytek's Squadron 42 claim to ripen so that the parties can fully resolve the disputes between them in a single proceeding. Such a result is undoubtedly to the benefit of both the Court and the parties."
For now, CIG has until January 24, 2020, to respond to the motion to dismiss. If it's successful, this particular court case will be put on hold for at least a year while CIG actually, you know, makes their game.
