MMO Culture is reporting that three staff members have been fired after it was discovered that they were embezzling funds from Project HON, with the possibility that the police may become involved. It was apparently discovered that a third party company had been hired to handle graphics development with ties to the three employees.
This is not the first time NCSoft employees have been accused of criminal actions. Back in 2012, a Korean court convicted three employees of Bluehole Studios for leaking trade secrets about Lineage III, ordering the trio to pay a fine of two billion won.
No rest for NCSoft. Coming on the heels of Guild Wars 2’s success, and with the recent release of Blade & Soul over in Korea, and the upcoming releases of Wildstar and Lineage Eternal, you might fall under the pretense that the Korean publisher is up to their necks with work. You would be wrong, as NCSoft has inked a partnership with Epic Games to develop two new MMOs under the Unreal 4 Engine.
There are no confirmed titles in the works, and the two games are separate from NCSoft’s existing library. Rumors suggest that one or both may be either the long-delayed and thought to be cancelled Lineage III, and possibly Aion 2. Aion had recently stated a committal to existing IP.
Regardless, we won’t be seeing anything from these games for a long time. According to an NCSoft rep, not until after Lineage Eternal.
It’s been two years since I last talked about the lawsuit between NCSoft and TERA developer Bluehole Studio, so I think a recap is necessary. Many years ago, before Lineage III was known as Lineage Eternal and when NCSoft still had plans to develop the MMO on the Unreal 3 engine, several members of the Lineage III staff left to form their own developer, Bluehole Studio, developer of the MMO The Exiled Realm of Arborea. NCSoft sued Bluehole in Korea in 2006, claiming that the developer had stolen software and hardware, as well as art, to make TERA. Bluehole was convicted in Korea and convictions were upheld (for the most part). A civil complaint was filed in 2010 and overturned by the courts. However, as you are well aware, TERA continued its development and launched in Korea with a western release early this year.
As it turns out, NCSoft isn’t taking this US release sitting down. The publisher launched a lawsuit in New York today, with essentially the same charges of theft of physical and intellectual property.
“Their business plan was simple and audacious: create a competing product using the very work they had done while at NCsoft, launch it themselves to great fanfare and acclaim, and, in the process, deal a crippling blow to their former employer,”
NCSoft seeks an injunction barring TERA from releasing in the United States, as well as enhanced damages for Bluehole’s misconduct. Appeals of the criminal and civil cases in Korea are still ongoing.
Here at MMO Fallout, we pride ourselves on being able to not only take important legal matters and translate them into digestible snausages for the masses, but also the ability to refer to a one man team as “we.” With Atari Vs Turbine and Bethesda Vs Interplay on the table, it’s easy to overlook less reported cases. For starters, NCsoft Vs Bluehole Studios!
By the time Lineage 3 was first canned, quite a number of the game’s mechanics were already in place and, by measure, copyrighted. A couple members of the developer team moved on to Bluehole Studios, currently working on upcoming MMO “The Exiled Realm of Arborea” (TERA), sparking a lawsuit by NCsoft. According to NCsoft, the two developers took with them source code relating to several copyrighted technologies. Mr. Kang and Mr. Yo are the former employees named in the lawsuit.
Sadly the case jumped right over MMO Fallout, in terms of breaking news. At least until today, where the Seoul District Court has awarded over 2 billion won in compensation to NCsoft. Naturally, Bluehole is expected to appeal the ruling. It is uncertain what effect this hefty fine will have on Bluehole, or TERA.
2 billion won equates to approximately $1.7 million dollars USD. More on TERA, not so much on Lineage 3, as it appears.
Here at MMO Fallout, we pride ourselves on being able to not only take important legal matters and translate them into digestible snausages for the masses, but also the ability to refer to a one man team as “we.” With Atari Vs Turbine and Bethesda Vs Interplay on the table, it’s easy to overlook less reported cases. For starters, NCsoft Vs Bluehole Studios!
By the time Lineage 3 was first canned, quite a number of the game’s mechanics were already in place and, by measure, copyrighted. A couple members of the developer team moved on to Bluehole Studios, currently working on upcoming MMO “The Exiled Realm of Arborea” (TERA), sparking a lawsuit by NCsoft. According to NCsoft, the two developers took with them source code relating to several copyrighted technologies. Mr. Kang and Mr. Yo are the former employees named in the lawsuit.
Sadly the case jumped right over MMO Fallout, in terms of breaking news. At least until today, where the Seoul District Court has awarded over 2 billion won in compensation to NCsoft. Naturally, Bluehole is expected to appeal the ruling. It is uncertain what effect this hefty fine will have on Bluehole, or TERA.
2 billion won equates to approximately $1.7 million dollars USD. More on TERA, not so much on Lineage 3, as it appears.
MMO Fallout 