Crytek wants to dismiss its own lawsuit against Star Citizen developer CIG until Squadron 42 comes out
Whenever that is.
Crysis developer Crytek wants to dismiss its own lawsuit against Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games until the standalone single-player Squadron 42 comes out.
Crytek believes there's no point in going ahead with a trial in June 2020 as planned because its claims revolve around the release of Squadron 42 as a standalone game - and it doesn't look like that's happening any time soon.
Crytek initially sued CIG for breaching copyright and developing two games with CryEngine while holding a licence to develop just one. CIG has claimed it switched over to Amazon's Lumberyard game engine.
This week, Crytek moved to dismiss its lawsuit without prejudice and reschedule the trial to 13th October 2020, presumably the earliest point it suspects Squadron 42 will be launched in some form. CIG has yet to announce a release date for Squadron 42, but back in August 2019 it announced the Squadron 42 beta was delayed three months to the third quarter of 2020.
In court documents linked to by redditor RiSC1911, Crytek contends CIG still plans to release Squadron 42 as a standalone game, but during talks between lawyers during what's known as the "discovery" phase of the pre-trial proceedings, such a standalone release became uncertain.
According to Crytek, in late November 2019 CIG told the German company it had not yet decided how Squadron 42 would be released. CIG's actual response here is redacted, but Crytek had something to say about it: "While this came as a surprise to Crytek (and undoubtedly will to the public who has pre-paid for Squadron 42, assuming the truth of CIG's response, Crytek's Squadron 42 claim is not yet ripe."
There is also a dispute over whether CIG switched from CryEngine to Lumberyard for Star Citizen and Squadron 42, as CIG has indicated. Here's Crytek in the motion to dismiss:
"This case has been marked by a pattern of CIG saying one thing in its public statements and another in this litigation. 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."
The upshot of all this is Crytek has requested the Court grant its motion for voluntary dismissal, without prejudice and without conditions. Here's Crytek again:
"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."
CIG has until 24th January 2020 to respond to Crytek's motion to dismiss. Crytek then has until 7th February 2020 to respond to CIG's response.