When Contracts Go Bad: Silicon Knights vs Epic Games
How dare your game look better than mine!
Friday, July 20, 2007 by Zoomba | Discussion: WinCustomize News
Epic, the current king of 3D game engine technology, has had a great deal of success licensing its Unreal Engine platform to a multitude of game developers over the years. Unreal Engine 3, the latest version, powers blockbuster titles such as Gears of War and Rainbow Six: Las Vegas, and will be the muscle behind upcoming titles like Bioshock and Unreal Tournament 3. In general, licensing the technology while also using it to develop its own games has gone extremely well for Epic.
You see, no matter what, Epic wins. If an Epic title is a blockbuster, they rake in the dough, if a game that uses the Unreal Engine technology is a blockbuster, Epic rakes in the royalty dough. Even if Epic ends up directly competing with another UE tech game, Epic wins.
Well, the golden age may be coming to an end as a company licensing UnrealEngine 3 is very upset with Epic and its handling of contractual obligations. Silicon Knights, developers of the upcoming next-generation title, Too Human, are angry over what they feel are contractual breaches; services and responsibilities Epic agreed to in the licensing contract that were not fulfilled.
While game news isn't really the focus here, this news story is a very interesting look at IP and contractual obligations between a tech developer, and whoever licenses said technology. Hit the link below to see the full report at Gamasutra.
Reply #2 Saturday, July 21, 2007 12:58 AM
Reply #3 Saturday, July 21, 2007 4:08 AM
Reply #4 Saturday, July 21, 2007 7:01 AM
Reply #5 Saturday, July 21, 2007 11:16 PM
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Reply #1 Friday, July 20, 2007 6:14 PM
Did Silicon Knights set a release date for their title?
One thing that I know regarding game development is that one should never set a release date. It has happened numerous times that titles with a planned release timeframe never gets met. (Yet I am now aware of one exception to the rule. ArenaNet thought their Eye of the North expansion to Guild Wars would be ready by 2007's holiday season. Yet it turns out that the release date is Aug 31, 2007. That's a complete opposite of what game titles often go through.)
Another thing I wonder is... since when have releasing engine on a timely manner been mandatory? I side with Epic since bugs can crop up at the most unsuspecting time and can very well delay the engine's release to the licensees. Sometimes engines aren't fully ready yet despite the hardware SDK being already released.
Does SK want an engine that works or do they want a rush job with bugs that has to be worked out?
Someone may want to enlighten me if I am interpreting this entire lawsuit wrong. I just cannot help but think that if Epic doesn't have a finished and working product to show for, it should not be released to licensees regardless. To me, it's always better to have a polished, robust, and finished product to license out than one that still have major bugs needing to work out and may hinder development time.