(Updated at bottom with response from Hasbro)
It’s been a while since I’ve updated you all on the ongoing Turbine Vs Atari lawsuit, so a recap is in the bill, Judge Judy style:
- Plaintiff: Turbine is the developer of Dungeons and Dragons Online. They are suing Atari, the publisher, for not doing an efficient job of promoting the title. Turbine is also accusing Atari of purposely downplaying the game in order to, at a future date, cut the license with the intent of shutting down Dungeons and Dragons Online in favor of Atari’s own rumored upcoming MMO based on the same franchise.
- Defendant: Atari is the license holder for Dungeons and Dragons and Advanced Dungeons and Dragons video games, and is also the publisher of Dungeons and Dragons Online. They are being sued for fraud.
The implications of a developer-publisher lawsuit are pretty clear. If Turbine wins, they get to keep the license until 2016, which will most likely be several years after DDO is six feet underground. If Turbine loses the lawsuit, you can certainly expect Atari to cut them off at the earliest opportunity, possibly shutting the game down along with them.
More after the break…
So the kids are fighting, it’s time for mom and dad to get involved. Hasbro, the company that owns the Dungeons and Dragons, finally entered the lawsuit this month and, as far as we can tell, everyone is going to be screwed. Hasbro is suing Atari for fraud and breaching their license agreement on at least five separate occasions. According to Hasbro, Atari struck deals with Namco-Bandai partners for licensing to the Dungeons and Dragons games. In effect, Atari was doing business with Hasbro’s competition, with Hasbro’s own licenses. Naturally, such an act is against the contract agreement.
“While unfortunate that we had to take this action, it is crucial for us to protect the Dungeons & Dragons brand,” said Greg Leeds, President of Wizards of the Coast. “We have been working for several months now to reach resolution with Atari, and they have left us with no other choice than to pursue legal action.”
In this lawsuit, Hasbro is seeking, among damages, the termination of the licensing agreement. Should Hasbro win, this could put the status of Dungeons and Dragons Online in serious jeopardy. With Atari’s licenses essentially null and void, Turbine may be forced to shut down the Dungeons and Dragons MMO, if even temporarily until licensing issues are straightened out. In a worst case scenario, the game is shut down permanently.
Atari of course, has called the lawsuit “meritless”, and an attempt to steal back the Dungeons and Dragons rights (That sounds awfully familiar). Either way, Turbine for now is stuck in the middle of a custody battle. If Atari wins, the future is shady. If Hasbro wins, the future is a little brighter, but not by much. Either way, I have a feeling that Turbine and DDO players are going to get a raw deal out of these lawsuits.
(Update)I was able to get a response from Wizards of the Coast, subsidiary of Hasbro, on the matter.
As you can imagine, we cannot speculate on legal issues now but will say that our goal is for the RPG community to have access to the full potential of D&D digital gaming. We like where DDO has been going lately and hope it continues to flourish.
-Tolena Thorburn
More on the Dungeons and Dragons Struggle as it unfolds.
MMO Fallout 
Excellent commentary on a complex issue.