Aliens: Colonial Marines released earlier this year to bad reviews and finger pointing over who was responsible for what went wrong. Now, a class-action lawsuit filed in the Northern District of California and claims that Gearbox, the developer, and Sega, the publisher falsely advertised a game that was unrepresenative of the final product.
The lawsuit, obtained by Polygon, says that demos of the game shown at E3 and PAX East were so vastly different from what wound up on shelves this February as to amount to fraud. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Damion Perrine who says that because reviews of the game were embargoed until right before it went on sale early adopters and those who pre-ordered the game were deceived.
The firm behind the lawsuit, Edelson LLC, is well-known for suing video game companies. On their web site they note they are currently in "settlement posture" with Sony Computer Entertainment of America and Electronic Arts. That lawsuit was over EA's promise to include copies of Battlfield 1943 with PS3 versions of Battlefield 3 at launch. Battlefield 3 did not include Battlefield 1943 and Edelson filed a class action lawsuit. EA eventually gave PlayStation 3 owners of Battlefield 3 a free download code for Battlefield 1943.
As Edelson's web site makes clear, "Attorneys at Edelson continue to monitor the industry, communicate directly with individual gamers about their experiences and frustrations as retail consumers, and look to keep the booming video game business honest."
