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SEGA Blames Gearbox for Aliens: Colonial Marines’ Marketing

SEGA Blames Gearbox for Aliens: Colonial Marines’ Marketing

As reported by Polygon on Wednesday, September 3, SEGA of America has filed a lawsuit against Aliens: Colonial Marines developer Gearbox Software, blaming the studio for the marketing behind the Aliens game that has been heavily criticised for false advertising.

According to Polygon, SEGA’s attorney for the matter writes that despite Gearbox’s claims that it wasn’t involved with the marketing of the game, the studio participated equally nonetheless, and would sometimes overstep bounds or keep SEGA in the dark about certain promotional decisions.

SEGA and those affiliated with the matter reached an agreement of $1.25 million to be issued out to those who had purchased Aliens: Colonial Marines before Wednesday, February 13, 2013. According to court documents on the matter, Gearbox’s attorneys were told they could be included in the settlement if they agreed to pay an additional $750,000 into the settlement.

However, according to Polygon, Gearbox argued that the studio shouldn’t be included in the lawsuit as it operated as a contractor, saying that it was SEGA who had the final say on the game and its marketing.

According to SEGA’s lawsuit, the publisher was initially given “ absolute discretion ” in regards to marketing decisions, but it was contractually required to discuss with Gearbox all marketing-related matters.

The parties had to mutually agree to the ‘precise particulars of marketing assets’ delivered by Gearbox. Gearbox’s participation–Randy Pitchford’s, in particular–was a key element in the [Aliens: Colonial Marines] marketing strategy from the beginning, ” according to SEGA’s lawsuit.

During one of my conversations with Gearbox today I verified that the E3 Demo is indeed the bar that we should use to determine where the entire game will be.That is Gearbox’s plan and what they believe in. I just wanted to double-check with them and since I did I figured I would pass that along to you, ” SEGA of America’s senior producer Matt Powers wrote to a small number of other SEGA employees.

I spoke face to face to [Gearbox’s Steve] Gibson about their persistent panel leaking. Effectively — it’s Randy [Pitchford] doing whatever the fuck he likes. Apparently he did it twice on [Borderlands 2] also, against, against all plans and despite the fact they asked him not to. I think our best result here is that we have no more panel sessions …, ” Matt Eyre wrote in an email to other company officials, according to Polygon.

SEGA’s lawsuit also refutes Gearbox’s earlier claims of having never received any royalties from the sales of Aliens: Colonial Marines ; SEGA had already paid the studio millions in advance of royalties in the form of milestone payments, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit also asks the court officials to ignore Gearbox’s request to block the settlement with SEGA.

You can read Polygon’s full report on the matter via the source link below. We’ll bring you more news on SEGA of America’s lawsuit against Gearbox Software should further information reach our ears.

[ Polygon ]

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