Namco Bandai wins in Witcher 2 distribution dispute
If you pick up an Xbox 360 copy of The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings in Western Europe, Central or South America, or the Asia-Pacific region next year, it'll be thanks to Namco Bandai. A court in Lyon, France has ruled that it may distribute the game in those territories, following a dispute with CD Projekt parent company Optimus SA, which had offered the game to THQ despite prior commitments.
Namco Bandai is entitled to a new distribution contract, and can extract a punitive fee of 15,000 euros per day if Optimus doesn't sign on the dotted line within 15 days of the ruling. When the dispute began, Optimus president Adam Kicinski expected a settlement or a legal victory, after which, he said, "the loser will pay for our lawyers."
A second loser here is THQ, which sees its preliminary agreement crushed as collateral damage beneath the gavel. According to Parkiet.com, CD Projekt RED board member Marcin Iwinski said THQ had suffered no costs, and that the companies may yet "part in harmony."
The court did not venture an opinion on Namco Bandai's suggestion that CD Projekt had violated their agreement by spontaneously disabling DRM from PC versions of The Witcher 2.
Namco Bandai is entitled to a new distribution contract, and can extract a punitive fee of 15,000 euros per day if Optimus doesn't sign on the dotted line within 15 days of the ruling. When the dispute began, Optimus president Adam Kicinski expected a settlement or a legal victory, after which, he said, "the loser will pay for our lawyers."
A second loser here is THQ, which sees its preliminary agreement crushed as collateral damage beneath the gavel. According to Parkiet.com, CD Projekt RED board member Marcin Iwinski said THQ had suffered no costs, and that the companies may yet "part in harmony."
The court did not venture an opinion on Namco Bandai's suggestion that CD Projekt had violated their agreement by spontaneously disabling DRM from PC versions of The Witcher 2.
