Fri, Jul 08, 2011 | 08:10 BST

Report – Namco Bandai suing CD Projeckt over Witcher 2 publishing deal

Namco Bandai has reportedly filed suit against CD Projekt following news THQ would take over publishing duties for the Xbox 360 version of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings.

According to Gamepur, Namco Bandai has claimed CD Projekt broke the publishing agreement twice, first by removing the retail version’s DRM in a post-release patch, and then by granting THQ rights to the Xbox 360 version.

“As with most cases, we first tried to end the dispute peacefully. Attempts failed and because of this, we hoped that our partner would send the case to the court,” CD Projekt CEO Adam Kicinski said.

“The agreement that we signed last year, concerned only the distribution of The Witcher 2 for the PC. The records were carefully clarified to avoid any ambiguity.

“Namco Bandai have options when choosing the priority of our distributor’s version of the Xbox 360. It could use, but not taken advantage of certain preferences. In this situation, we chose the offer that THQ made us.”

Kicinski’s statement seems to suggest Namco Bandai is withholding payments, but “the lack of a few million” doesn’t bother CD Projekt, one of Europe’s largest publishers.

“I hope that the whole thing will end with a pre-litigation settlement. If it doesn’t, I am sure that we will win the case and then the loser will pay for our lawyers,” he said.

No date has been set for the Xbox 360 version of The Witcher 2.

Thanks, Destructoid.

6 comments

Telepathic.Geometry
08/07/11, 2:40 am

Damn, I hate it when mommy and daddy fight.

IL DUCE
08/07/11, 2:59 am

On “Sent u a message” this week on XBL they actually said CD Projekt Red gave them the date of November 15th, 2011 for the release of The Witcher 2 on 360…hopefully none of this snags up its development/release…

freedoms_stain
08/07/11, 4:33 am

I liked the paying for lawyers touch. That was a good quote.

DaveDogg
08/07/11, 12:29 pm

@2 to be honest i think it would be better off hitting the shelves jan or feb next year Give skyrim some breathing room

SamJ
08/07/11, 8:20 pm

Good for them, doing what they think is a better move for the game rather than bending to what a distant publisher wants. Hopefully the legal issues don’t have a lasting detrimental effect on the studio. “Worst case, CD Projekt breaks up with both parties and goes to a not-shit publisher, like…ohhhh…Ubisoft?”</a?

YoungZer0
08/07/11, 11:34 pm

Well if you sign a deal and you’re knowingly breaking that deal, yeah, guess which party will have to pay.