Sega and Gearbox Call Colonial Marines Lawsuit “Frivolous”

When I was young, I was not always a good kid.  On several occasions, I was actually quite a hand full for my parents.  The one thing I did learn over the course of my life, however, was to own up to my mistakes.  Such is how we all learn and better ourselves and, most importantly, avoid making the same mistakes again.

Sega, after having their misleading advertising for Aliens: Colonial Marines legally attacked and required to have disclaimers included stating exactly the opposite of what the ads had said originally is being sued for their all-but-admitted false advertising.  They have formally responded to this lawsuit, and claim it is “without merit” and “frivolous”.

We continue to support the game, and will defend the rights of entertainers to share their works-in-progress without fear of frivolous litigation.

Okay, this quote does have a point.  Developers should be able to show off their works in progress without fear of suffering litigation as a result.  I am even of the mind they should not be held to task if the finished product is not up to the standards of the demo.  Game development is a complicated process, after all, and seemingly small changes and additions can have a huge impact on the overall product.

The problem in the case of Colonial Marines is not that the finished product was not as good as the demo shown.  The problem is the demo shown was incredible and there was nothing shown between that demo and the final release to even hint the game would look any worse.  Quite the contrary, in fact, as Sega put out advertisement after advertisement showing footage from that very impressive demo and touting it as in-game footage.

It takes one of two things to lose a legal battle requiring advertising to be changed for being deliberately misleading and then turn around and claim people wanting recompense for being suckered by it “frivolous”.  The first thing it requires is corporate ‘admit no wrong’ mentalities.  The second is childishness.  Which we have to thank for the mess Aliens: Colonial Marines has given us all is irrelevant if the result is the same.