Apparently NAMCO claims they had "exclusive" publishing rights regarding the X-Box version of Witcher 2... CDP says they only had a "preference option" and NAMCO didnt use it, so they made a deal with THQ instead...




http://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=auto&tl=en&twu=1&u=http://www.parkiet.com/artykul/1071774_Namco-Bandai-na-wojennej-sciezce-z-Optimusem.html&usg=ALkJrhj-p__YieBzM2YC1f9T-gGcFvtRYg

Apart from a very low move by Namco (witholding the Witcher 2 profits for Europe), CDP/RED seems very confident, so this should not endanger Wircher 3 or other future projects. Let us hope it all resolves quickly...

The interesting part is not the suxbox port publishing rights, but the DRM issue. I'm curious how that turns out. If the court agrees with Namco's POV this could mean a heavy blow to all future no-DRM endeavors.

What DRM issue? I don't see anything mentioned in the article, albeit the article's translated with Google Translate, so maybe I missed something.

To add an originally English article:
http://www.dsogaming.com/news/namco-bandai-sues-cd-projekt-red/

Adam Kicinski sounds extraordinarily confident.
Don't know what to think of it. If it's real confidence, that's a very good thing and the whole lawsuit is no reason at all for us to worry about.
But it also sounds a bit too exaggerated and might not be that good a sign, after all - hiding the severity of the matter, or something.

Yeah it''s not in this article but according to the lawsuit, CD Projekt RED broke their agreement with Namco by removing the DRM protection.

Thanks for the link!

Badass move on CDPR's side tbh, I just hope they don't have to pay for it.

Thanks for the link, Aaden.

From the looks of it, I don't think there's anything to worry about regarding the xbox distribution contract, as it seems they took that into consideration when signing with NB.

The DRM thing, on the other hand, may bite them in the ass if they did break an agreement with NB. But it could still turn out to be a win for DRM-free proponents because there's no way in hell NB can claim they lost sales due to the DRM removal considering there was the GOG DRM-free version available before the DRM was removed. Maybe other publishers will sit up and take notice that not only do gamers hate DRM but some devs do as well and it serves no purpose.

Here's hoping CDPR made really really sure their contract with NBastards was airtight...

Screw Namco Bandai. Sigh, why do publishers always have to turn out to be such an assholes. First Atari, now them. CDP, you should just selfpublish everything everywhere.

Sadly in the end it's all about the money. Especially for Namco.

The DRM "issue" mentioned was a BIG advantage for Namco also, either they admit it or not. Retail buyers were very happy and appreciative about the DRM removal, thus leading to a very positive feed-back on the matter, reflecting this on the number of retail sales.

So, simply put, Namco is simply just pissed off for not getting more money through the publishing of the console version.

I hope the situation really is as good as Kicinski describes it.

And THQ are a good publisher. CDPR will be better off with them.

I kinda hope that Flash will show up and shed some light on this whole thing here.

RED employees may be under a NDA (non disclosure agreement) where they can`t say anything...even if they wanted to .

Could be, anyway...I hope that NB won't be able to do any harm to CDPR and future TW2 publications.

Commenting on a pending legal action would be a BIG "don't ever do this".

I don't know any of the details of either claim, but the DRM one could involve some action NB saw as undercutting their distributor rights or their image.

The Xbox 360 claim could involve the structure of whatever option clause may or may not have existed, or maybe a "good faith" claim. NB might be arguing that they should have had the right, either because the contract said so, or because good faith required it, to pick up the option to distribute the console version even if THQ made a better offer.

Their agreement seems to be under French law, and civil law countries (including France) regularly impose duties of "good faith" that go beyond the letter of the contract.