Turbine sues Atari over Dungeons and Dragons Online licensing

[reposted from Joystiq]

Stick with us, because this could get confusing: Courthouse News reports that Turbine - the Massachusetts-based developer behind the Dungeon and Dragons Online MMO - is suing Atari, publisher of the title. At issue is Turbine's claim that Atari has "breached a licensing agreement" related to the development of the free-to-play Dungeons and Dragons Online Unlimited. Turbine says that while it has spent millions developing the franchise "and continues to invest money to operate and maintain the service," Atari "acted unreasonably in its efforts to promote and distribute [Dungeons and Dragons Online] and failed to devote the necessary resources to it."

So, Atari continued to accept payments ("including future royalty payments") from Turbine for the Dungeons and Dragons Online "sublicense" though, Turbine alleges, Atari had a "strategy" to 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." We can assume that "competing product" is Atari's upcoming Champions Online MMO, being developed by its recently acquired in-house MMO dev Cryptic Studios.

So, to recap: Atari wants to terminate the license agreement with Turbine to develop and maintain the Dungeons and Dragons Online MMO franchise, including the just-announced "Unlimited" free-to-play variant. Turbine says that such a termination threatens its "past investment" in the franchise and the "goodwill" it's developed with the DDO playerbase, and those they expect to play DDO Unlimited. And now, it's up to the courts!

Turbine sues Atari over Dungeons and Dragons Online licensing originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 26 Aug 2009 11:45:00 EST. Please see their terms for use of feeds.

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/08/26/turbine-sues-atari-over-dungeons-and-dragons-online-licensing/

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Free Dungeons & Dragons Online Encounters Delay [Delay Of Game]

[reposted from Kotaku]

Dungeons & Dragons Online's transition into free-to-play game enters a 10x10 room. Up ahead is its original August release date. It rushes forward...pit trap! Saving throw failed, one month delay.

Dungeons & Dragons Online was set to become DDO Unlimited next week in North America, morphing from subscription-based game to a new free-to-play model, but it seems that Turbine isn't quite ready to make that leap. The transition is now scheduled for September 9th, 2009. "We've had a tremendous response to DDO Unlimited from the players and press who are participating in our beta program," said Fernando Paiz, Executive Producer of DDO Unlimited. "We've been holding a series of live events as part of the beta program and have seen an unprecedented level of participation from players. While we are very pleased with the performance of the game and are excited about the response from the players, we are committed to delivering a high-quality experience. We feel that more time is needed to deliver on this commitment. As a result, we are delaying our launch to ensure that we can support the massive increase in players that we are expecting and deliver them a free to play experience like none other."

As an aside, 9/9/09 is also the date that will see many hopelessly devoted Sega fans praying for a new Dreamcast console. It is a day for fantasy roleplay!

http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/kotaku/full/~3/jNXVkGeSqyU/free-dungeons--dragons-online-encounters-delay

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