The testimony which was dismissed by the court was a six part cost breakdown on theoretical lost income due to Epic for allegedly failing to ”provide a working game engine” for Too Human. Epic was accused of ”sabotaging” Too Human for the sake of Gears of War.
Lloyd, a Certified Public Accountant and Chartered Financial Analyst, made the following estimates in his testimony:
* Lost royalties due to decrease sales ($6.2 mil)
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Lost publisher bonus ($750k)
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Lost ancillary royalties ($810k)
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Lost profits from sequels ($16+ mil for Too Human II, $14+ mil for Too Human III) and another Sega title, The Ritualyst ($8+ mil)
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Cost to develop a new engine ($2.3 mil)
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Economic harm to Silicon Knights’ reputation ($8.9 mil)
These estimates for game engine development were tossed out, partly because publishers like Microsoft and Sega recoup those costs for the developer. Another sticking point was that Lloyd was listing theoretical games as future profits. Silicon Knights had blamed Epic for the long delay and poor sales, due to their pulling of the Unreal Engine 3 from the game.
Epic responded to this accusation with a counter-motion, arguing ”Having exploited Epic’s intellectual property to its advantage, Silicon Knights now seeks to renege on its payment obligations under the License Agreement. It is Silicon Knights, not Epic, that has engaged in deceit, infringement of Epic’s intellectual property rights, breach of contract, and unfair business practices.”
Silicon Knights recently laid off 3/4 of its staff, blaming Activision for cancelling a project the developer had been working on for it.
