Atari responded to today with a sharp denunciation of the breach-of-contract lawsuit filed last week by Turbine, calling it a frivolous action that does "a great disservice" to MMO gamers.
Turbine sued Atari in New York state court on Aug. 24, more or less alleging the Atari invented a ruse to terminate Turbine's sublicense contract to develop a Dungeons & Dragons MMO. The suit implies Atari did this to make way for an upcoming D&D project being developed by Cryptic Studios - which Atari bought in December.
Here's Atari's response, emailed today to Kotaku. One highlight - in addition to filing a motion to dismiss, Atari's also countersuing Turbine for some money "resulting from an independent third party audit of Turbine." Sounds like this is gonna be nasty.
Last week, with no warning, Turbine filed what can only be viewed as a frivolous lawsuit against Atari. This action can ultimately do a great disservice to D&D fans and to the MMO community at large. Turbine's actions also appear intended to divert attention from the contractual obligations that Turbine owes to Atari. In response, today Atari served a motion to dismiss the entirety of Turbine's lawsuit. Atari also filed a separate complaint to recover monies owed to Atari resulting from an independent third party audit of Turbine. While Atari hopes for a quick and fair resolution, it remains fully committed to the D&D communities worldwide and will vigorously protect the franchise and its own integrity in this matter.