Loading... Turbine vs. Atari

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Posted Wed, Aug 26, 2009 by Ethec

Welcome to the 1,152nd edition of Loading...

Loading... is the premier daily MMORPG news, coverage, and commentary newsletter, only from Ten Ton Hammer.

We were shocked to read of a lawsuit filed late Monday by Turbine, who's suing Atari over a license and contract dispute related to Dungeons & Dragons Online. Atari, who sub-licensed DnD to Turbine for development, is (apparently) trying to back out of its agreement and take the license back just as Turbine's launching the free-to-play DDO Unlimited next week. It's a mess, and we'll try and sort some of it out in today's Loading... Turbine vs. Atari.

The Pulse

You vote with what you view at Ten Ton Hammer, and the result is the Ten Ton Pulse (What is The Pulse?).

Here's today's top 5 Pulse results:

Biggest Movers today :

Fallen Earth (UP 9 to #18)
Star Wars: The Old Republic (UP 2 to #11)
Dragon Age Origins (down 2 to #13)

Recent MMO Releases

7/13 - Darkfall NA launch
7/21- FFXI "Moogle Kupo d'Etat" Addon (release date)
8/4 - World of Warcraft Update 3.2 (content patch)
8/25 - CrimeCraft (release date)

Important Dates

9/4 - 9/6 - Penny Arcade Expo (PAX)
9/15 - 9/18 - GDC Austin
10/1 - 10/3 - EVE FanFest

Upcoming Releases

9/1 - Champions Online (release date)
9/9 - Dungeons & Dragons Online Unlimited (release date)
9/15 (NEW) - Fallen Earth (release date)
9/22 - Aion (release date)
10/9 - Cities XL (release date)
Early 2010 - APB

Loading... Daily

How's this for a mess of epic proportions: Joystiq broke the news on a Turbine vs. Atari $30 million lawsuit that could have widespread impact on the nichier side of the MMO category. You might recall that Atari was listed as the publisher of Dungeons and Dragons Online at launch (February 2006). Publisher might be a bit of a misnomer, though, according to the lawsuit, in which Turbine that Atari fulfilled few of their contractual obligations aside from sub-licensing the Dungeons & Dragons IP from Hasbro.

Legalese aside, I think Turbine is looking at the kind of PR footwork Atari's titles have been getting lately and wondering where the love was (and is) for DDO. You've seldom met a more dedicated fanbase than DDO players, and they've long been clamoring for more publicity to try and grow the game. DDO's free to play revamp, DDO Unlimited, is set to take the stage in a little less than two weeks, and (according to Turbine) the response to beta has been beyond their wildest expectations. But DDO Unlimited hasn't gotten the glitzy promo events, the magazine cover wraps, or nearly the same level of Internet ad proliferation of Atari games like Champions Online. However, Atari fully acquired Champions Online along with Cryptic Studios late last year for $28 million (perhaps using some of those "payments" and "future royalties"from Turbine, to twist the knife a little further), so it's perhaps not an apples and oranges comparison.

All that's just speculation, because speculation's all you'll get with a pending lawsuit. Here's the kicker, though:

"Turbine claims that Atari's purported "termination" was part of a strategy it conceived prior to the May 13 agreements that it would either terminate Turbine as part of a shakedown, or proceed with termination in bad faith to benefit from its own competing product at Turbine's expense."

The ugly phrase that keeps being thrown around in this summary is "termination of the license agreement." Is Turbine in danger of losing their license to develop DDO Unlimited just a week before launch? Is Champions Online, which launches less than a week before DDO Unlimited, the "competing product" - or some other game (namely the rumored Neverwinter Nights MMO, which is much more a DnDish competitor)? It's got to be another game, there's not much overlap between the DDO and CO markets except in the broadest sense.

If Atari took the royalties money, bailed on their commitments, and now might be pulling the license out from under Turbine just a week before launch, no wonder Turbine's a little peeved. On the other hand, Atari's seems to say that Turbine got a little carried away with the money they spent revamping DDO into DDO Unlimited, and now they're simply after more money. Atari complained that Turbine's supposed "concealment of information and withholding of royalty fees" were grounds for terminating the contract, which would mean that the DnD license reverts to Atari.

What a mess. It's hard to see how the fans can be a winner no matter who wins the lawsuit. If Atari loses a $30 million lawsuit, that would probably trickle down to put a crimp in Cryptic's future plans. If Atari wins, the future of DDO might be in jeopardy. Meanwhile, DDO fans, take heart: we've confirmed with Turbine that DDO Unlimited's march to launch is proceeding as planned. But we'll keep trying to figure out the implications of this, but feel free to share your insights in the Loading... forum, you legal beagles.

Shayalyn's Epic Thread of the Day

From our WoW: General Discussion Forum

Felicia Day from "THE GUILD" gets asked about her carpet @Blizzcon '09

"Does the carpet match the curtains?" That's what a BlizzCon fan asked redheaded acrtress Felicia Day from The Guild. Khalus found the question, and Day's response, so amusing that he posted the video in our World of Warcraft forum, and now a sort of impromptu Ten Ton Hammer Felicia Day Fan Club seems to be emerging.

Does Felicia Day's carpet match her curtains? You'll have to watch the video to see if this epic question receives an answer, and then add your own bit of fan adulation to the thread.

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Awesome Quotes from the Epic Thread

"That was truly classic! My vote is 'no, they do not match,' btw."

- Igimund
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Have you spotted an Epic Thread on our forums? Tell us!

4 new MMOG home-grown articles today, many from BlizzCon! 78 in August! 938 in 2009!

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