New documents filed by Crytek in its suit against Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games suggest that Crytek does not expect Squadron 42 to launch this year, or at least not before the matter is scheduled for trial. Crytek’s complaint is that Cloud Imperium Games has been developing two separate games – Star Citizen and Squadron 42 – but had only ever secured the CryEngine rights for one.
CIG had initially signed a game license agreement with Crytek in 2012 to use the company’s CryEngine for Star Citizen, and language in that agreement is what’s in dispute in the lawsuit. One paragraph in the agreement states that the licensee, Cloud Imperium Games, would be using the engine for the development of both Star Citizen (strangely called “Space Citizen” in the agreement) and “its related space fighter game ‘Squadron 42,’ together hereafter the ‘Game.'” CIG’s attorneys have said that the suit “sacrifices legal sufficiency for loud publicity.”
Fast forward to this past week, and Crytek has submitted a memorandum in support of its motion to the court to voluntarily dismiss its suit without prejudice, since it does not expect Cloud Imperium Games to release Squadron 42 in time for the new trial date, which is currently set for October 13.
The reason for this, simply put, is that for the complaint rests on the assumption that there are two separate games. For the purposes of the suit, Star Citizen is considered to be launched, although it is still in what Cloud Imperium refers to as an alpha state. Flashy new teaser trailers notwithstanding, there isn’t currently a playable version of Squadron 42 available to backers.
The issue further complicated by Star Citizen’s move from CryEngine to Amazon’s Lumberyard engine – which itself was originally based on CryEngine.
Crytek’s new memorandum (available as a PDF here) asks the court to dismiss its suit without prejudice, which means leaving the door open to refile the suit if and when Squadron 42 becomes available. Cloud Imperium Games’ public roadmap for Squadron 42 estimates that the game will reach a beta stage of development in the third quarter of 2020.