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TERA lawsuit settled, En Masse maintains innocence [Updated]
According to a statement issued to Massively by En Masse Entertainment last night, TERA publisher En Masse and NCsoft have finally resolved their long-standing feud and settled their lawsuit. The lawsuit centered around claims that TERA's Korean developer, Bluehole Studio, stole assets from the in-production Lineage III to create TERA. While Korean courts found some ex-NCsoft employees at Bluehole guilty in the original criminal trial, En Masse stood by its claim of innocence through the culmination of this civil lawsuit. Recent layoffs at the studio nevertheless worry players. We've posted En Masse's statement in its entirety behind the break.
En Masse addresses TERA lawsuit speculation
En Masse Entertainment has issued a response to yesterday's developments in the long-running NCsoft vs. Bluehole Studio legal drama. A posting on the official TERA blog says that the upcoming action MMO will launch as scheduled on May 1st despite "baseless accusations" and "unfounded rumors" regarding the theft of Lineage III assets by former Bluehole employees in Korea. The piece states that "after extensive Korean proceedings, Bluehole Studio was not found to have made any use of any NCsoft trade secrets in the form of source code or game design." It also notes that NCsoft product performance has suffered since TERA's Korean launch more than a year ago.
Korean court confirms guilty verdict in TERA criminal trial
Multiple news sites are reporting a verdict in the long-running NCsoft vs. Bluehole Studio litigation regarding stolen Lineage III assets. According to the sites, the Korean Supreme Court has confirmed the guilty verdict in the criminal trial originally reached in 2009. The body also doled out "tougher punishment" in the form of prison time and probation for a former Lineage III department head and a team manager. ThisIsGame.com points out that there could be more bad news coming for the team that turned Lineage III assets into TERA, as the outcome of a $5.7 million civil suit is still pending. MMO Culture has published a timeline of the TERA legal proceedings, though neither website cites a source for its information. We'll update the story with more details as they become available.
