Well, this debacle appears to have came to an abrupt end. Digital Homicide, the developer that not only sued 100 Steam users, but Valve as well, has been “stomped into the ground from a thousand directions”, according to the company’s James Romine.
Talking to TechRaptor’s Don Parsons, Romine explained that he plans to “[go] back into the work force”, after the Digital Homicide name was “destroyed” by recent events:
As far as digital homicide? It’s destroyed. It’s been stomped into the ground from a thousand directions and use is discontinued. I’m going back into the work force and watching what’s really going on. Not gaming media gossip – the real stories are in the legal documents. Not talking about mine.
In addition, with the removal of the studio’s games from Steam, it is no longer in a position to continue its legal campaigning due to “financial reasons”. However, Romine remains confident that the “case was very solid”:
There were in excess of 140 false statements by the 11 steam users, tens of thousands of posts harassing myself and my customers, three direct interference with written contracts with third parties by steam users (some of which were competitors), and much more. A combined in excess of 25 reports were filed against the worst users of the 11 with no resolutions being found.
Maybe we’ll hear more about Digital Homicide and Romine in the future, but for now, it looks like it’s ended in a fizzle. Whether there was something to its legal endeavours? That’s certainly up for debate.
Digital Homicide Files To Dismiss Case Against Steam Users [TechRaptor]
Comments
19 responses to “Sue-Happy Developer Digital Homicide ‘Destroyed’, Seeks To Dismiss Legal Battles”
Good, could not have happened to a shadier bunch of devs.
Correction
“Good, could not have happened to a shadier bunch of scam artists.”
You’re giving them too much credit calling them a Dev
I take it no Lawyer would take his “totally solid” case on for no win, no fee.
Even Phoenix Wright probably would have lost this one…
Theres a fat man with a red tie grinning uncontrollably somewhere right now. This notion brings me joy.
Santa??? Thank god for him!
AND THANK GOD FOR THAT FAT MAN! 8D
Turns out dev that doesn’t put thought into their games also doesn’t think before into legal proceedings.
Fun fact… they had *one* decent game in the works that even Jim said had potential and tried out.
They then dropped it because it wasn’t making any money and required too much effort and promptly went back to shovelware…. now imagine an alternate universe where they actually bothered with that game eh?
this lawsuit had just about as much substance in it as their games did.
I feel like you’re giving their games way too much credit.
I think you’re giving their lawsuit too much credit 😛
These guys are good at one thing: mental gymnastics.
Don’t slam the door on the way out….u will not be missed.
A solid & welcome reminder that all is right in the world
I know everyone’s hating on these guys, their games weren’t very good and they definitely did the wrong thing here (no question about it) but through all this, has anyone actually stopped to ask – how did we even get here? As much as it was pretty fucked that digital homicide went sue happy and get in the headlines for all the wrong reasons, I’m pretty sure their frustration and anger didn’t just come from nowhere.
Honestly, for this to happen is sad. I don’t mean them just them shutting down – I mean the entire story. A few guys wanted to make games, presumably because they loved the medium enough to give it a shot, then when they leave we sit back smugly and mock them? Come on guys.
I can’t see how they “loved the medium”. If you truly loved making video games, you would actually take on criticisms of your work and build upon them. DH were perfectly content with ignoring the criticisms and banning anybody that said them. We should be able to sit back smugly and mock a ban-happy, sue-happy scummy piece of shit company when they get called out for their bullshit.
I already mentioned it above..
They had one very decent online game that was in the works and was enjoyable and worked. They then promptly cancelled it because “it wasn’t making money and too much effort” and promptly went back to their usual asset recycling shenanigans.
I mean I buy doujinsoft from Japan and there’s a lot of stuff there made from RPGMaker but at least the folks using them took the time and effort to put in original art and character sprites. These guys don’t even do that… just cobble together and easy premade scripts and assets and resell.
I don’t think these are the actions of a “passionate” game dev. Lots of Indie devs will spend years perfecting one release/original idea and if it bombs or gets negative feed back and try again. We’re seeing the actions of folks seeing a quick cash scheme attempt via green light.
Their work is an insult to everything even remotely connecting to gaming. I can almost guarantee that it’s not over. This sue happy potato calling itself a human will do the same thing under a different name.