Silicon Knights forced to destroy Unreal Engine titles

Silicon Knights was forced to recall and destroy all of its games developed with Unreal Engine after losing its court case with Epic earlier this year.

The Too Human developer had sought $58 million in damages from Epic after it claimed the Gears of War studio had failed to provide enough support in its use of Unreal Engine 3, and said this resulted in disappointing sales and a poor critical reception.

Silicon Knights lost the protracted court battle though, and was told by the North Carolina judge to pay up $4.5 million to Epic after the developer succeeded in its countersuit that claimed Silicon Knights had stolen ‘trade secrets’ with regards to Unreal Engine 3.

It has now emerged, as spotted by Eurogamer, that the court also ordered Silicon Knights to cease distributing Unreal Engine-developed titles and recall and destroy all versions of licensed technology in its possession, including the video game and engine code.

Affected titles include Too Human, The Box/Ritualyst, The Sandman, X-Men: Destiny and Siren in the Maelstrom. It was noted that this must also be done at the expense of Silicon Knights itself.

The developer has until December 10th to destroy all content stated in the legal document, and must notify the court and Epic by December 21st, and again on February 21st, on its compliance with the injunction.

It was recently reported that after a series of layoffs, commercial struggles and the loss of its lawsuit with Epic, that Silicon Knights was now down to just five members of staff.

It was also claimed that the studio experienced 25 resignations in a six-month period, without any replacements being made.