Codemasters Sues Gamedevil Over Jumpgate Evolution

Back at E3 2010 I wrote a small blurb about Jumpgate Evolution. An impressive trailer had just been released and I was in the mood to spread my excitement about the game.  Well, it's now a year past the original release date  and it looks like Codemasters, trailer or not, has had enough.

Codemasters is now suing Gazillion and NetDevil in a San Francisco federal court, alleging breach of contract after the developer failed to deliver the game by its February 2009 deadline.  They are seeking the $1.4 million it paid for art assets, advances, and other costs associated with the project.

Via Joystiq's Law of the Game columnist Mark Methenitis explains, "Codemasters wants their money back, in short, for a product that was never delivered. In a contracts case like this, it's one of your only two options given the fact scenario: Everyone gets back what they put in to act like the contract never happened (rescission) or the court forces everyone to complete the contract as written (specific performance). I doubt Codemasters wants the product at this point, so they're asking for what amounts to a refund."

In any case, this pretty much puts a nail in the coffin for any hope of this game seeing light now, unless the two parties can come to a quick conclusion to the argument.  It's too bad, Eve Online is great but I don't think it would have been a bad thing to have another space MMO out there.