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Crytek sues Star Citizen devs for copyright infringement, breach of contract

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Re: Crytek sues Star Citizen devs for copyright infringement, breach of contract

#81
post #64
post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

(Just kidding here) Unity and Unreal could merge into a company called U2. I wonder though if the FTC would let this unreal unity of game engines happen though

> merge into a company called U2 You are waiting for another Copyright suit, aren't you? :)

Wouldn't that be a trademark issue?

Re: Crytek sues Star Citizen devs for copyright infringement, breach of contract

#82
post #76
post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What are the numbers? Is Havok really mandatory? Wouldn't it be possible to replace Havok with Bullet or some other related system?

$25,000. Valve doesn't distribute Source without it, as far as I know. Replacing Havok would take a lot of effort which is better spent elsewhere.

Valve has been working on a physics engine called Rubikon since at least 2012. [1] Maybe it will be used to fully replace Havok in Source 2.

--

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTC0V0LWeGI

[1] http://media.steampowered.com/apps/valve/2014/Sergiy_Migdals...

[1] http://media.steampowered.com/apps/valve/2015/Migdalskiy_Ser...

Re: Crytek sues Star Citizen devs for copyright infringement, breach of contract

#83
post #69

>22. On December 16, 2015, Defendants announced that "Squadron 42," a single-player video game involving space combat, would be sold separately from Star Citizen. >25. On February 14, 2016, Defendants moved forward with their plan for Squadron 42 notwithstanding their failure to obtain a license and began offering the video game for separate purchase. As a result, Defendants are intentionally and willfully using CryE…

> Defendants are intentionally and willfully using CryEngine without a license and in violation of copyright laws. This is from the banner at the top of CryEngine's home page: "Full engine source code. All features. No royalties. No obligations. No license fee.

From the complaint: In 2012, Defendants sought to develop a new game called "Star Citizen," which was billed as an epic space adventure, trading, and dogfighting video game.

Re: Crytek sues Star Citizen devs for copyright infringement, breach of contract

#84

This will now make a lot of gamedevs stop and pause when considering Crytek goods, so Crytek must be really desperate to resort to this sort of PR-hostile measures.

They are likely to be somewhat desperate.

Consider this, though, if the only protection of one's income came from a license - it makes sense to enforce that license against people who didn't pay substantially over $75,000, after contacting them several times.

Re: Crytek sues Star Citizen devs for copyright infringement, breach of contract

#85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of gamers (and by extension devs) assume the worst of any legal action, so it's bad PR even if they're completely justified.

Being afraid to take legal action and defend your rights out of fear of bad PR is... not cool. This is somewhat the equivalent of being afraid to speak against an abusive partner.

Except we’re talking about private for-profit companies. Sort of changes the calculus a little, I think. I don’t have sympathy for either company here.

Re: Crytek sues Star Citizen devs for copyright infringement, breach of contract

#86
post #82
post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

$25,000. Valve doesn't distribute Source without it, as far as I know. Replacing Havok would take a lot of effort which is better spent elsewhere.

Valve has been working on a physics engine called Rubikon since at least 2012. [1] Maybe it will be used to fully replace Havok in Source 2. -- [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTC0V0LWeGI [1] http://media.steampowered.com/apps/valve/2014/Sergiy_Migdals... [1] http://media.steampowered.com/apps/valve/2015/Migdalskiy_Ser...

Source 2 is another matter altogether. Valve doesn't share it with third-party developers at all, whether you pay or not. There were plans back in 2015 to make it free with the condition that any game made with it has to be published to Steam non-exclusively, but that still hasn't happened yet.

Re: Crytek sues Star Citizen devs for copyright infringement, breach of contract

#87
post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just have to mention that it is playable and I know at least one friend who is having fun playing it. I never tried it.

There are always at least few people enjoying even the most odd games[0], but that's far from the blockbuster Star Citizen was supposed to be. 0. https://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/desert-bus-the-very-...

You can't declare failure before a game is even released.

Re: Crytek sues Star Citizen devs for copyright infringement, breach of contract

#88
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>but it won't be attracting people to use CryEngine over others anytime soon. Seriously. I can't imagine anyone seeing this lawsuit and reading about the terms of these contracts and thinking, "Yeah, CryEngine sounds like a good idea." Lumberyard is far more likely to have good licensing terms, plus Amazon integration, and Unreal Engine is a serious competitor with very clear licensing terms and pretty extreme access…

What's "Amazon integration"? And why is Amazon developing a game engine?

Lumberyard is very popular in Asia and is the main market for it.

Re: Crytek sues Star Citizen devs for copyright infringement, breach of contract

#89
post #65
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People seem eager to forget Chris Roberts pitched this exact game before, as Freelancer, and that was released years too late, with none of the promised "living universe" features, after being bought out and handed off to someone else. Fool me once... I've heard people say "the technology didn't exist back then!", which is true. But the technology doesn't exist today either. Games have gotten a lot better at drawing…

Freelancer was a great game, I really enjoyed playing it. I'm not sure how much Chris Roberts had to do with the final product but I don't think Freelancer was a failure when it was released.

Sure but go read the original pitch for it on wikipedia. It sounds word for word like Star Citizen. If we get another Freelancer, the project will have failed once again... it'll be years overdue and missing 90% of its promised feature set.

I dunno if you've played it recently btw, but it hasn't aged that well either.

Ambition and wild ideas are fine, but you shouldn't make promises you can't deliver on.

Re: Crytek sues Star Citizen devs for copyright infringement, breach of contract

#90
post #75
post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Defendants are intentionally and willfully using CryEngine without a license and in violation of copyright laws. This is from the banner at the top of CryEngine's home page: "Full engine source code. All features. No royalties. No obligations. No license fee.

It's possible that CryEngine is now offerend under different terms compared to when it was licensed to StarCitizen.

It's also possible that the Engine is, and was, offered under multiple terms simultaneously to hit different parts of the market.

I'm speculating (yay internet!), but for Enterprise components developers profit from there's often a "buy the cow up front" option along with a "free cow today for a sip of the milk tomorrow" model.

Star Citizen, particularly before the crowd funding, wouldn't have wanted to give them a lot of cash up front, and got some really nice concessions in the deal (free promos and development).

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