Gearbox dodges Aliens: Colonial Marines lawsuit

May 29, 2015 | 11:03

Tags: #aliens #aliens-colonial-marines #class-action #fraud #lawsuit #legal #sue #timegate

Companies: #gearbox #sega

Gearbox has been removed from the lawsuit over the mega-flop Aliens: Colonial Marines, which has lost its class-action status in the process.

Announced back in 2008 by publisher Sega, Aliens: Colonial Marines was to be an ambitious first-person shooter which is set in the Aliens universe directly after the events of the eponymous film and starring many of the same characters. Gearbox was hired to make the game, and in 2009 a 2010 launch date was announced. The game wouldn't actually hit shop shelves until 2013, and when it did it was soundly panned for being ugly, buggy, and having terrible AI.

Those weren't the only problems, however: many gamers and critics spotted distinct differences between footage released in 2011 claiming to be live gameplay and the game which was launched two years later - with the 2011 footage being considerably superior in every way. It was enough for gamers to request class-action status for a lawsuit against Sega and Gearbox claiming they had materially misled buyers into thinking the game was of a considerably higher quality than supplied.

In August last year, Gearbox said it had done no wrong and requested its removal from the lawsuit, while Sega offered up to $1.25 million to make the case go away with no admission of wrongdoing on its part. Now, fresh court filings obtained by Polygon show that Gearbox has received its wish: the company has been dropped from the suit, which has also lost its bid for class-action status - representing all buyers of the product - and now only affects the two original filers.

Sega has not indicated how it intends to proceed now the application for class-action status has been denied.
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