Activision tells EA to back off Brutal Legend

As if Brutal Legend hasn't gone back and forth enough times, we finally start getting excited and WHAM!!! Lawsuit. If you haven't been following the drama here is a brief recap:

Brutal Legend was being developed by Double Fine Studios, which at the time had contract with Vivendi Games for Publishing rights.  When the Vivendi/Activision merger happened last year the merged companies decided not to release the game. Jack Black fans around the world were crushed.  So Double Fine Studios decided just to go with another publisher.  Not just any publisher, but another powerhouse in the world of gaming and arch nemesis of Activison, EA.  Brutal Legend gets picked up by EA, everything is going smoothly until today where Activision is now issuing a letter to EA stating that Activision still owns the rights to Brutal Legend, and EA needs to back off.

How much more do we have to hear about Brutal Legend being released, then not released, then sued, and probably delayed? If Activision wanted Brutal Legend so bad they would have kept the IP after the merger and published it like they said they would.  In February EA made a humurous satement in regards of the matter :

"We doubt that Activision would try to sue. That would be like a husband abandoning his family and then suing after his wife meets a better looking guy."

LOL surprise!  Looks like the husband is back in full force.  Then Tim Schafer, chief executive of Double Fine released a great statement:

"Hey, if Activision liked it, they should have put a ring on it. Oh great, now Beyonce is going to sue me too."

So true...

[LA Times]