Star Citizen developer hits back at Crytek in ongoing lawsuit

The developer of Star Citizen is hitting back at Crytek as the lengthy legal battle continues.

As spotted by our pals at Eurogamer, Cloud Imperium Games is claiming Crytek's latest attempt to dismiss its own lawsuit against them was because "Crytek can no longer delay the inevitable reckoning that its claim is and has always been meritless." The new court document was filed on January 17.

"This is not a case of a diligent plaintiff sensibly backing out early on," the studio argues.

"It is instead a study of an abusive use of litigation and publicity. For all the above reasons, the Court should dismiss Crytek’s two remaining claims with prejudice. If the Court is not inclined to do so, the Court should condition dismissal of the SQ42 claim without prejudice on (a) Crytek’s payment of CIG’s attorney’s fees and costs in the amount $500,000, to be disbursed from the bond; and (b) dismissal of the credits claim with prejudice."

The creators of the CryEngine first sought to dismiss their own lawsuit against the developer of Star Citizen earlier this month, according to legal documents which show the studio's attempt to reschedule the trial to October 13 when Squadron 42 is expected to have launched.

Crytek first sued CIG over a breach of contract last year when the studio reportedly began developing the two titles while only having a license to develop one. Cloud Imperium Games said at the time it had switched from CryEngine to Amazon’s Lumberyard engine for Squadron 42.

“This case has been marked by a pattern of CIG saying one thing in its public statements and another in this litigation,” Crytek said at the time. “For example, at the outset of this case, CIG had publicly claimed it had switched to using the Lumberyard Engine for both Star Citizen and Squadron 42, but was forced to confirm during this litigation that no such switch had taken place.

“Should CIG release Squadron 42 as a standalone game, the case would be in exactly the same position it is currently. In short, granting Crytek’s voluntary dismissal now would do nothing more than allow Crytek’s Squadron 42 claim to ripen so that the parties can fully resolve the disputes between them in a single proceeding. Such a result is undoubtedly to the benefit of both the Court and the parties.”

Crytek now has until February 7 to respond to CIG's response.