Silicon Knights: We'll expose "misconduct" of Epic in court

Too Human developer Silicon Knights has hit out at Epic Games following a court ruling that dismissed testimony of one of its key experts in the long-running legal case between the two developers.

Silicon Knights is suing Gears of War maker Epic Games for misrepresenting the capabilities of its Unreal Engine, not providing support and for the losses caused following the delay of flop title Too Human.

In late December last year a judge granted a motion to exclude the testimony of Terry Lloyd, charted accountant, who claimed that Silicon Knights was owed at least $58 million in damages from the loss of royalties from better sales of the game, publisher bonuses, profits from two sequels with Microsoft and another title - The Ritualyst - with Sega, and the costs to develop a new engine after dropping Unreal.

Epic filed over 20 separate motions to exclude essentially every aspect of the voluminous evidence against them

Denis Dyack, Silicon Knights

The court rejected Lloyd's testimony because he was "not qualified", his methodologies "do not fit the facts of the case" and were "unreliable and speculative", with Epic going so far as to suggest his figures were "made up", according to The Escapist.

In a statement sent to GamesIndustry.biz Silicon Knights boss Denis Dyack said that the dismissal of Lloyd "is really one of the few rulings that Epic can say went their way."

"We also think it is important that the full extent of the rulings in the case be known," continued Dyack. "Epic filed over 20 separate motions to exclude essentially every aspect of the voluminous evidence against them, including all of Silicon Knights' expert witnesses (beyond Mr. Lloyd) and all of the third-party information regarding Unreal Engine 3. Other than this one ruling on Mr. Lloyd, they were not successful."

"While we are certainly disappointed that the Court decided that Mr. Lloyd's testimony on damages was not appropriate for trial, we look forward to putting on evidence of the damage that Unreal Engine 3 caused to Silicon Knights, which was substantial and very tangible.

"It is important to understand that the jury decides damages and will hear evidence from many people and see many case documents. Mr. Lloyd's testimony was only one piece."

After waiting for five years for the trial, Dyack added that he is "looking forward to Epic's misconduct finally being aired in the light of day."

"It remains an inescapable fact that Epic is going to trial for Fraud, Unfair Competition, Deceptive Trade Practices, Breach of Warranty, and Breach of Contract," he said.

Court papers reveal that other titles in development at Silicon Knights that never saw the light of day included King's Quest and Sandmim, and Dyack has always maintained that the company would complete the Too Human trilogy despite Microsoft declining to publish the sequels. The company most recently completed X-Men Destiny for Activision.