Star Citizen is the poster child when it comes to crowdfunded titles, having raised hundred of millions of dollars. It’s also a game that is taking quite a lot of time to come out, which is understandable for the scope Cloud Imperium Games is aiming for. However a new issue has raised its head as Crytek has filed a lawsuit against Cloud Imperium Games due to breach of contract.
The bulk of Crytek’s claims stem from the use of CryEngine for Star Citizen, and how Cloud Imperium broke the license agreement set between the two companies. When work first began CryEngine was used but in 2016 that was changed for the Lumberyard game engine from Amazon. According to Crytek the original agreement states that Star Citizen was to be developed using CryEngine exclusively, with the argument being that switching to Lumberyard broke that agreement,
The development of Squadron 42, a standalone title set in the Star Citizen universe, is also a point of contention. The agreement between the two parties states that the engine was to be used for Star Citizen and Star Citizen only, so making Squadron 42 a separate title also breaches the contract. Cloud Imperium Games responded with the following statement.
“We are aware of the Crytek complaint having been filed in the US District Court. CIG hasn’t used the CryEngine for quite some time since we switched to Amazon’s Lumberyard.  This is a meritless lawsuit that we will defend vigorously against, including recovering from Crytek any costs incurred in this matter.”
This case may rumble on for a while but the outcome could affect Star Citizen if Crytek is successful.
Source: Gamasutra
