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Too Human developers Silicon Knights are "down to just a few employees", and have "sold off office equipment and game assets", according to a report on Polygon.

#siliconknights In November, a federal judge made the breathtaking order that all copies of Too Human had to be destroyed by its creator, Silicon Knights, as part of a $4 million judgment awarded to Epic Games in a nasty six-year suit-and-countersuit court battle between the two. We now see that this extended also to digital copies of the game, as anything associated with Too Human, an Xbox 360 exclusive, has been wiped from Xbox Live. More »

Even an electronic god is no match for Xbox Live administrators, apparently. Too Human and all related content has been removed from Xbox Live Marketplace. Though the game's Xbox.com listing is still active, containing screenshots, an overview and a trailer, all downloadable content has been removed. That includes both the full Games on Demand download of the game as well as items like themes and gamer pictures.

The action is likely the result of the recent court ruling against developer Silicon Knights, demanding that all copies of its Unreal Engine 3 games be recalled and destroyed. As of this writing, however, another Silicon Knights UE3 game, X-Men: Destiny, remains available via Games on Demand. We've contacted Microsoft for official comment on the matter.

Silicon Knights has laid off a "a small number of people" following its $4.5 million loss to Epic Games' countersuit claims.

Silicon Knights first sued Epic Games in 2007, claiming unsatisfactory support of Epic's Unreal Engine 3, which led to what Silicon Knights said forced it to build its own engine for Too Human. The jury found in favor of Epic Games on all counts, including its counterclaims, and awarded the engine developer $4.5 million in damages; Silicon Knights has since said it will appeal the ruling.

Silicon Knights head Denis Dyack told Games Industry the studio is still operational and is even planning for the future: "Silicon Knights has unfortunately had to lay off a small number of people. We are scaling back to a core group and focusing all our efforts on future opportunities."

UPDATE: In addition to simply "winning" the lawsuit, Epic Games has been awarded damages totaling $4.45 million.

One has to wonder where that $4.45 million will actually come from, and if Silicon Knights ever envisioned a scenario where they would suddenly owe money.

"We are delighted with the jury's verdict," said Epic Games general counsel Jay Andrews in a statement.

I'm also able to share some BREAKING NEWS, courtesy of $2.30 that I just spent searching for court documents related to the case. Because the court charges you regardless of whether you find anything interesting, I'm sharing them with you now.

On May 29 and May 30, the court spent $251.24 in lunches for jurors--$99.23 on May 29 and $152.01 on May 30.

Scandalous.

--

Too Human, intended as a trilogy of games, never made it past the first game.

Silicon Knights filed a lawsuit against Epic Games in 2007 over a dispute with Unreal Engine 3 and the development of Too Human, and according to Epic Games CEO Mark Rein, Epic Games won.

"Case over,” said Rein on Twitter. “Jury finds for Epic on all counts.”

The Too Human developer was arguing breach of contract, which reportedly impacted the game’s development and Silicon Knights’ ability to properly deliver the game.

"Rather than provide support to Silicon Knights and Epic’s other many licensees of the Engine,” read the original lawsuit filing, “Epic intentionally and wrongfully has used the fees from those licenses to launch its own game to widespread commercial success while simultaneously sabotaging efforts by Silicon Knights and others to develop their own video games."

In essence, Silicon Knights was upset Epic Games was spending its time perfecting its own games (and thus, its own engine) rather than spending all its time helping out those who licensed its engine.

The problems prompted Silicon Knights to begin developing its own multi-platform engine.

“Epic’s actions and the consequent increasing delay and cost of development of Silicon Knights’ own game," argued the studio, "caused by the unworkable Engine forced Silicon Knights in May of 2006 to embark on the time and resource intensive task of writing its own game engine, the very task it had hoped to avoid be entering the Agreement with Epic."

The latest game released by Silicon Knights was the poorly received X-Men: Destiny.

Too Human, intended as a trilogy of games, never made it past the first game.

Silicon Knights filed a lawsuit against Epic Games in 2007 over a dispute with Unreal Engine 3 and the development of Too Human, and according to Epic Games CEO Mark Rein, Epic Games won.

"Case over,” said Rein on Twitter. “Jury finds for Epic on all counts.”

The Too Human developer was arguing breach of contract, which reportedly impacted the game’s development and Silicon Knights’ ability to properly deliver the game.

"Rather than provide support to Silicon Knights and Epic’s other many licensees of the Engine,” read the original lawsuit filing, “Epic intentionally and wrongfully has used the fees from those licenses to launch its own game to widespread commercial success while simultaneously sabotaging efforts by Silicon Knights and others to develop their own video games."

In essence, Silicon Knights was upset Epic Games was spending its time perfecting its own games (and thus, its own engine) rather than spending all its time helping out those who licensed its engine.

The problems prompted Silicon Knights to begin developing its own multi-platform engine.

“Epic’s actions and the consequent increasing delay and cost of development of Silicon Knights’ own game," reads the lawsuit, "caused by the unworkable Engine forced Silicon Knights in May of 2006 to embark on the time and resource intensive task of writing its own game engine, the very task it had hoped to avoid be entering the Agreement with Epic."

The latest game released by Silicon Knights was the poorly received X-Men: Destiny.

#epicgames The great Silicon Knights-Epic Games slapfight is at last underway in a courtroom, but already a judge has suggested that even if the maker of Too Human wins, it could lose. He's said that the damages up for grabs are $1. More »

Silicon Knights will be entitled to $1 in damages, per claim, if it wins a court case against Epic Games over inadequacies in the support of its Unreal Engine. Silicon Knights first sued Epic in 2007, alleging Epic didn't fulfill the promised delivery time or expectations of Unreal Engine 3, forcing Silicon Knights to build its own engine for the production of Too Human.

Silicon Knights didn't provide a breakdown of the damages it sought, and the judge assigned his own value of $1 per claim, Polygon reports. If Silicon Knights wins the case, it will be able to appeal how the value was chosen and perhaps raise it to a figure that can't be found on neighborhood lemonade-stand signs.

The case is in court this month and is expected to run for another week.

Last year, Silicon Knights was awarded a grant by the Canadian government, in part to self-publish games, and to hire 80 employees. But it turns out the Ontario Ministry of Economic Development and Trade never handed over the funds -- a promised sum of $3 million Canadian.

"There hasn't been any funding. There were announcements and no money received," Silicon Knights president Denis Dyack told GI.biz. "That's one of the strangest things. So, at one point, there was a loan that we got. That's it." Dyack said he's following up on the money, but to no avail so far.

It could be an alarming issue for Silicon Knights, considering the state of affairs at the Ontario-based studio. Late last year the developer had to let 45 go, and it remains embroiled in a long-running legal dispute with Epic over the use of Unreal Engine 3 during the development of Too Human.

#lawsuit Much has been made of a recent ruling adverse to Silicon Knights in its long-running lawsuit with Epic Games, the Gears of War maker whose Unreal Engine was to have been the guts of 2008 flop Too Human. Basically, a judge tossed out an expert witness for Silicon Knights; he was going to give his estimates of the losses Silicon Knights suffered when its deal with Epic went in the crapper. More »

A rumour on 1UP reckons that nearly 75% of the staff at Too Human developers Silicon Knights have been laid off, leaving only 25 at the studio which last worked on X-Men: Destiny. More »

Game designer Denis Dyack, who labored on action game Too Human for years, thinks that social gaming is a bubble waiting to burst: "The trend that I see is it's probably going to be one of the biggest bubbles and explosions that our industry's seen in a long time and I think when it crashes it's going to crash very hard." [IndustryGamers] More »

Too Human was announced as a trilogy when announcing games as trilogies before the original was a proven success was en vogue. When the oft-delayed Too Human was released to mixed reception and sales and developer Silicon Knights legally went after Epic Games over the development of Unreal Engine 3 (a suit that's still ongoing), the future of Too Human's unproduced sequels was left sitting in doubt. 

Two Silicon Knights employees made comments about the future of Too Human today, oddly enough.

"We intend to finish the trilogy but no comment beyond that," said company president Denis Dyack in a comment to Industry Gamers. "You know, there's very public litigation around that."
Separately, assistant project director Julian Spillane introduced himself to the "official" Silicon Knights community (the spin-off is actually endorsed by the studio on its own website) and addressed the issue.

"Well, unfortunately we can’t talk about any of the unannounced games we’re currently working on," said Spillane, "but we can definitively say that we do plan on finishing the trilogy. "

There's a stark difference between intention and bonafide development, however. 

Silicon Knights is currently developing the RPG-focused X-Men: Destiny for Activision.    

Silicon Knights, the creators of Xbox 360 game Too Human, says it still "intend[s] to finish the trilogy" despite meager sales, middling critical reception and a very long development cycle. Studio founder Denis Dyack tells Industry Gamers it has no further comment, noting "You know, there's very public litigation around that." We know! More »