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Star Citizen devs and Crytek's multi-year lawsuit ends in settlement

Newly surfaced documents seem to show that the lawsuit between Crytek and Cloud Imperium Games seems to be coming to a close with an agreement between both parties.

TJ Denzer

February 21, 2020 10:27 AM

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Back in 2015, Cloud Imperium Games announced Squadron 42, which was meant to give players a single-player experience set in the universe of its much larger Star Citizen project. Soon after, Cloud Imperium Games found itself embroiled in a lawsuit from Crytek which has been active for years. Now it seems that Crytek and CIG are coming to terms on their legal battle. An agreement appears to have been reached and will be finalized soon.

Recently, legal documents surfaced on Reddit regarding an agreement and settlement of the lawsuit filed by Crytek against Cloud Imperium Games. Dated February 20, 2020, the documents indicate that Crytek and CIG “have reached an agreement” in the matter and will be filing for a joint dismissal of the lawsuit. The final terms of the lawsuit are expected to be settled one month from the February 20 date on the document. The terms of the agreement do not appear in the document.

The foundation of the lawsuit filed by Crytek came from a disagreement over the use of the CryEngine in Squadron 42, which was announced back in 2015 featuring Mark Hamill. Though Cloud Imperium Games seemingly had permission to use the CryEngine for Star Citizen, Crytek argued that CIG broke an agreement between the two parties when CIG used the engine for Squadron 42. The lawsuit has been in the courts for years since.

Nonetheless, Cloud Imperium Games has been active in its efforts to keep content moving for its players. They’ve had “Free Fly” weekends to show players what Star Citizen is about and Squadron 42 has received new trailers and more as CIG prepares for the game’s launch.

With the lawsuit between the two seemingly finally coming to a close, Cloud Imperium Games can likely refocus its efforts and attention on Star Citizen and Squadron 42, free of legal stress.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.