http://www.qj.net/xbox-360/news/gearbox-stole-from-sega-to-fund-other-projects-claim-says.html
Since its release Aliens: Colonial Marines has picked up negative attention well beyond simple poor review scores.
As well as suggestions that the game was outsourced by Gearbox to Section 8 developer TimeGate, it has also been alleged that Gearbox basically left the game to die.
And now, it gets worse. A statement from someone who claims to be a SEGA employee says that Gearbox’s treatment of Aliens: Colonial Marines and its dealings with SEGA are tantamount to “theft.”
This latest development comes from someone going under the name of Bryan Danielson, on a blog called SEGA Awakens. Danielson said that while Timegate and SEGA are also responsible for the poor quality of Aliens: Colonial Marines, Gearbox is guilty of “embezzelment.”
“Gearbox stole from SEGA,” said Danielson. “They robbed us, lied to us about the game, and tried to get another company to make the game instead.
“Pitchford and Gearbox wanted to focus heavily on Duke Nukem Forever, but how would they get the money to hire some of the 3D Realms team and even buy the intellectual property?
“Sure, they made a lot from Borderlands, but guess where they got the money to fund Borderlands in the first place? Yup, SEGA.
“So Gearbox essentially lied to SEGA, mishandled funds, broke agreements and contractual obligations to work on other projects, didn’t want to work on a game they were contractually obligated to work on and gave it to another team, poor organization and direction on ACM, took on too many projects from different companies at once, and other things that we may not even know about.
“Hell, part of me believes that Gearbox wanted this thing delayed as much as possible so they can get more funding money to embezzle from SEGA.”
Danielson said that he has heard rumours that SEGA was looking to sue Gearbox, but that Gearbox had fulfilled its contract, despite the poor quality of the game and the repeated delays on the project.
Since its release Aliens: Colonial Marines has picked up negative attention well beyond simple poor review scores.
As well as suggestions that the game was outsourced by Gearbox to Section 8 developer TimeGate, it has also been alleged that Gearbox basically left the game to die.
And now, it gets worse. A statement from someone who claims to be a SEGA employee says that Gearbox’s treatment of Aliens: Colonial Marines and its dealings with SEGA are tantamount to “theft.”
This latest development comes from someone going under the name of Bryan Danielson, on a blog called SEGA Awakens. Danielson said that while Timegate and SEGA are also responsible for the poor quality of Aliens: Colonial Marines, Gearbox is guilty of “embezzelment.”
“Gearbox stole from SEGA,” said Danielson. “They robbed us, lied to us about the game, and tried to get another company to make the game instead.
“Pitchford and Gearbox wanted to focus heavily on Duke Nukem Forever, but how would they get the money to hire some of the 3D Realms team and even buy the intellectual property?
“Sure, they made a lot from Borderlands, but guess where they got the money to fund Borderlands in the first place? Yup, SEGA.
“So Gearbox essentially lied to SEGA, mishandled funds, broke agreements and contractual obligations to work on other projects, didn’t want to work on a game they were contractually obligated to work on and gave it to another team, poor organization and direction on ACM, took on too many projects from different companies at once, and other things that we may not even know about.
“Hell, part of me believes that Gearbox wanted this thing delayed as much as possible so they can get more funding money to embezzle from SEGA.”
Danielson said that he has heard rumours that SEGA was looking to sue Gearbox, but that Gearbox had fulfilled its contract, despite the poor quality of the game and the repeated delays on the project.
