A recent article from Forbes reports that Crytek and Cloud Imperium Games’s (CIG) ongoing legal dispute has seen a new development. Crytek is temporarily attempting to dismiss its claim until CIG’s release of the single player variant of Star Citizen called Squadron 42. According to the filed suit, charge of breach of contract is only valid if Squadron 42 is released as a stand-alone game apart from the larger Star Citizen. CIG claims that Squardon 42 will be apart of Star Citizen. Squadron 42 has been delayed to the third financial quarter of 2020.
CIG has until the 14th of January to respond to Crytek’s motion, but both companies agreed to request to move the trial to the 23rd of October instead of the 16th of June. Initially, Crytek claimed that CIG both breached their contracts and infringed on their copyright of CryEngine 3 by developing Star Citizen without license. However, CIG claims to have shifted development onto Amazon Lumberyard. Amazon Lumberyard is an engine built around an earlier variant of the CryEngine that caused several issues, as the initial contract barred CIG from sharing code from CryEngine with third parties.
According to court documentation, Crytek intends to dismiss the claims against CIG without prejudice as the claim against Squadron 42 is not fully developed. This was done so that if Squadron 42 is released as stand alone feature, Crytek can refile their initial claim with better support and resolve the dispute with a single proceeding. Due to how the court case is filed, CIG would not have committed any offense until the release of Squadron 42. Current documentation suggests the CIG is going to oppose the motion to dismiss, to which Crytek will need to respond by the 7th of February.
The motion to dismiss is not going to disrupt either company in discovering and bringing forth new evidence to court proceedings. If the motion to dismiss is not granted, the cut-off date for new evidence will the 14th of January, as if the request to move the court date is not granted the proceedings will occur on the 13th of October.