A class action lawsuit claiming that Aliens: Colonial Marines used false advertising is happening. Today, SEGA — publisher behind the title — has responded to the situation.
“SEGA cannot comment on specifics of ongoing litigation, but we are confident that the lawsuit is without merit and we will defend it vigorously,” SEGA told Kotaku.
The plaintiff seeks damages for people who bought the game before the discrepancies between advertising and final product were publicly known. As we’ve noted before, there is a noticeable difference between the advertising and the actual game.
Gearbox has not responded to our request for comment.
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4 responses to “Sega: False Advertising Lawsuit Is “Without Merit””
It is with merit, and it also isn’t. I mean, sure the Beta footage showed “May be different from final product” or whatever, but someone that observes how Colonial Marines release went down can notice that any real footage took it’s time to appear – like on release day. No review copies were handed out and the such. It’s, in a way, like they knew it was awful but still wanted to save their wallets.
Don’t demos always have a not representation of final product and work in progress message.
Heh. Historically always with the implication being that the end product will be better. Talk about a sinister new way of viewing all disclaimers.
That disclaimer, and the fact that the message typically taken from it is “end product will be better”, the disclaimer could bite them in the arse, as in some areas (especially those with strong consumer protections), the meaning that the average consumer will take is what matters when determining if advertising is misleading, and you can bet that places with said strong consumer protection will consider previews (especially interactive ones released prior to the main product) to be a form of advertising.
So existence of merit in this case will depend on where it is being heard.
Yeah, but that’s usually because it’s not as good as the final product will be….
In all seriousness did any one expect a different answer from Sega?
I may not have known the exact phrasing, but it’s the answer I expected.