Crytek's lawsuit against Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games, which had become increasingly complicated, seems to be at an end. Both companies have agreed to settle the dispute, notifying the court of the deal and requesting 30 days to finalise it.
The legal battle stemmed from an agreement over the use of the CryEngine, which CIG allegedly broke when it used the engine in another game, Squadron 42. CIG responded by stating that Squadron 42 was not, in fact, a separate game, as it was accessed via the same client as Star Citizen. It also made the switch from CryEngine to Amazon's Lumberyard.
How Squadron 42 will be released, however, might be up in the air. CIG apparently told Crytek it hadn't settled on this key detail as late as November last year. In the same documents, Crytek also disputed the fact that Squadron 42 had made the switch to a new engine, saying CIG "was forced to confirm during this litigation that no such switch had taken place."
In January, it came to light that Crytek was trying to get its own lawsuit dismissed, with the intent to file it again following the release of Squadron 42. The case hinged on Squadron 42 launching as a standalone game, and with no firm release date and its relationship to Star Citizen unclear, Crytek wanted to postpone things. CIG hit back, calling the court document "attention seeking."
After so long, and so many shots taken, an agreement didn't seem particularly likely, but it looks like the lawsuit has been settled—or at least soon will be. The details of the agreement were not specified in the document, spotted on Reddit, which just confirmed that one had been reached.
Crytek first filed the lawsuit way back in 2017, so it's been going on for a while, though not nearly as long as Star Citizen's development. That began in 2011. Back in those days, some people thought they'd be playing the finished game a few years later. We await the final release with excitement.
