Activision sued for delaying Scratch: The Ultimate DJ
Publisher Genius Products is taking competitor Activision to court for delaying Scratch: The Ultimate DJ. Activision has bought the developer of Scratch and would influence the development process.
The American publisher Genius Products complains competitor Activision for various offenses allegedly intended to delay the release of Scratch: The Ultimate DJ. Genius is releasing the rhythm game together with turntable manufacturer Numark, and the two companies have hired developer 7 Studios to create the game.
When Genius released the game in October 2008 announced Scratch had been in development for quite some time. At the time, the intention was to release the game in the spring of 2009 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii. Genius’ indictment shows that 7 Studios has since been bought by Activision and that this publisher would have ordered the studio to delay the development of the game so that it will be released after Activision has released its own game DJ Hero. DJ Hero should also come on the market in 2009. Genius is now claiming compensation for the damage the company will incur due to this delay.
Genius Products states that the company was approached in January 2009 by several publishers who wanted to buy Scratch. Activision would also have made an offer, with which it wanted to buy the rights to the game for an amount that would cover the development costs incurred. Negotiations then began that lasted until mid-March 2009. Activision would have openly admitted during those negotiations that it wanted to buy the rights to Scratch to prevent the game from being released before DJ Hero.
When the publishers couldn’t come to an agreement, Activision decided to make an offer for the game’s developer, and 7 Studios accepted that offer. Subsequently, Activision would have ordered the staff of 7 Studios to work on other projects, in particular halting development of Scratch. In April, Genius unsuccessfully attempted to recover an alpha version of the game and a prototype of the special Numark-made controller from 7 Studios. However, the developer refused to provide it, so Genius cannot have the game developed by another studio.
Video (ScratchTheUltimateDJ_Trailer.flv)