Silicon Knights ordered to destroy unsold copies of Too Human and more

Get your eBay auctions ready

Things have gone from bad to worse for Canadian developer Silicon Knights. After losing its legal battle against Epic Games earlier this year over the use of the Unreal Engine, the developer was ordered to destroy all its games built with the tech, it has been revealed.

A NeoGAF user spotted the order deep inside the case court document. It shows that Silicon Knights has until 10th December 2012 to destroy any software it built using the Unreal Engine 3. This includes code for Too Human, X-Men: Destiny, The Sandman, The Box/Ritualyst, and Siren in the Maelstrom.

The order does not just include the code. The developer must cease production of these games and recall and destroy any and all unsold copies.

This is the end result of a prolonged legal dispute between Silicon Knights and Epic Games that started in 2007. The former party accused Epic of holding back funds that should have been spent supporting Unreal Engine and instead giving it over to the development of Gears of War. Problems with the engine were blamed for the Too Human studio having to ditch it at the eleventh hour and develop its own system. Naturally, this came at a huge cost.

In May this year Silicon Knights was ordered to pay out $4.45 million in damages to Epic after the jury found in favour of it counter claims. The court ruled Silicon Knights to be in breach of their Unreal license agreement, making them guilty of misappropriating Epic’s trade secrets and infringing upon Epic’s copyrights in the Unreal Engine 3 code.

Do you have a copy of Too Human lying around? It's about to become a lot more valuable.

Staff article by David Owen (November 09, 2012) David Owen is a freelance writer who also contributes to VG247, Eurogamer, IGN, and others. He likes Gitaroo Man more than is healthy.