Gearbox Dropped From Colonial Marines Class Action Suit

Gearbox Software, the studio that developed dreadful nonsense in the misshapen form of Aliens: Colonial Marines [official site], have been dropped from a lawsuit that claimed the developers - with publishers Sega - falsely advertised the Aliens game with unrepresentative demos.

Polygon's Hell Hounds of News have gotten their hands on court documents confirming the suit still stands against Sega; however, it's no longer a class action case. Instead, it will represent only the two original people who filed back in 2013 through law firm Edelson LLC.

The case has been going on for quite some time. Aliens: Colonial Marines - a game John described at the time as "not only a truly dreadful addition to the Aliens canon, but it's somehow taken six years to develop a game that feels not only a decade old, but utterly falling to pieces." - launched in early 2013 to hefty criticism. Central to this are the game's graphics, which many noted didn't match what Sega and Gearbox showed to press and fans prior to release.

Throughout this time, Gearbox have argued they should not be included in the suit as they worked on a contractual basis, with Sega having final say on both the game and its marketing. You can read the play-by-play of what's been going on for the last few months right here.

On May 12th, U.S. District Judge James Donato dismissed the case against Gearbox - with prejudice, which means they can't file a suit connected to the case in the future. In return, Gearbox can not seek legal fees. The plaintiffs currently have until next week to tell the court how they plan to proceed in the suit against Sega.