Codies' new Operation Flashpoint 'not a sequel,' original dev insists

We've all heard this story before: Boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, boy and girl produce child, boy decides to create next child by himself, girl sues boy for infringing on legal rights of girl ... alright, so maybe this is a little different. Bohemia Interactive, creator of Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis, this week posted a press release on its company forums, stating that Codemasters' upcoming OFP sequel (Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising) isn't a true "sequel."

Leora Hermann, a lawyer representing Bohemia Interactive, states in the release, "In the license agreement, Bohemia Interactive expressly reserved the exclusive right to develop sequels to the original OFP game." Hermann expands upon the agreement between Codemaster and Bohemia Interactive, claiming, "Codemasters also acknowledged that Bohemia owns all the intellectual property in the game -- except the words 'Operation Flashpoint.' Since Codemasters has no right to use the Bohemia Interactive game engine or any other component of the Bohemia-developed game, how can it rightfully claim to produce a 'sequel'?"

Operation Flashpoint: Cold War Crisis, a Cold War-era FPS, was developed by Bohemia Interactive and published by Codemasters for PC in 2001. Codemasters has since developed a sequel (in name only, according to Bohemia Interactive) internally as Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising; while Bohemia Interactive has continued using updated versions of the original Operation Flashpoint game engine in its ArmA series. We've seen this kind of franchise catfight before (see: Call of Duty and F.E.A.R.), though this one seems likely to bare some deeper scars.

We've put in word to Bohemia Interactive and Codemasters for comment and will update as necessary.