Gearbox head Randy Pitchford has spoken to GamesIndustry about what was shaping to be a class action lawsuit against Alien: Colonial Marines and fraudulent marketing.
In 2012, Sega was on the receiving end of a lawsuit that claimed it and Gearbox misrepresented the game. Stevivor attended a demo of the game conducted by Pitchford himself, and we’re some of the first to admit that the finished product did little to resemble that experience.
Still, Pitchford called the lawsuit was a “waste of time”.
“The market proved it was doing its job perfectly,” Pitchford said.”The market is dispassionate – rewarding what it likes and punishing what it doesn’t. There is an objectivity and fairness in the open market’s harsh, firm justice.
“[The legal system] was being manipulated by what appeared to me to be essentially mafia style extortion tactics. Sadly, the manipulation would have actually worked, as it had in other cases with those same guys and to the detriment of the industry and gamers and actual, you know, justice,” he continued.
While Sega eventually settled for $1.13 million USD, Gearbox remained firm, eventually being dropped from the suit.
“Those guys made a mistake in naming us as defendants because we stood up to them,” Pitchford asserted. “That’s all it took – someone to stand up to them. And so they lost since they didn’t have a legitimate case.”
You can read our Colonial Marines review here.
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