Activision Sued Over Alleged DJ Game Conspiracy News

Genius Products, the company behind an upcoming game entitled Scratch: The Ultimate DJ, is suing publisher Activision over its alleged attempts to conspire with the game's developer, 7 Studios, to deliberately hold back its development and pass on trade secrets.

The press release announcing Genius Products' lawsuit states that Activision first attempted to buy-out the game project - an offer that was refused by Genius - and then proceeded to acquire 7 Studios instead.

If this acquisition has gone through (and it would be the first we've heard of it), then it bears a striking resemblance to when MTV Games acquired Harmonix from under Activision's nose in September 2006 (Activision had already purchased the Guitar Hero publisher, Red Octane at that point).

Regardless of Activision taking a leaf out of MTV Games' big book of underhanded corporate strategy, Genius Products' accusations are a little more serious, suggesting that 7 Studios and Activision have conspired to prevent Scratch: The Ultimate DJ from "getting to market on a timely basis by withholding work product, code and the proprietary game controller".

Furthermore, Genius alleges that 7 Studios has shared trade secrets with Activision on the project since the acquisition while still under a non-disclosure agreement, allowing the DJ Hero publisher to "gain access to proprietary technology".

Genius Products' 'Scratch Deck' turntable peripheral has been developed by Numark (one of the world's leading makers of DJ equipment) and the company is also filing suit with Genius against 7 Studios and Activision.

Activision is currently developing a rival DJ Hero game at its Neversoft studio, which is due for release later this year. Similarly to Scratch: The Ultimate DJ, DJ Hero will also make use of a turntable peripheral.

Genius and Numark are demanding substantial damages, the game's immediate return from 7 Studio, and other injunctive relief as part of their legal actions.

"We believe that Activision realizes the tremendous opportunity that our game, Scratch, represents to the video game industry, the retail marketplace and the consumer. After demonstrating our game, pursuant to the confidentiality agreement with Activision, we believe Activision concluded that Scratch: The Ultimate DJ is a superior offering to their prospective game, DJ Hero," stated Mr. Trevor Drinkwater, President and CEO of Genius Products, Inc. "We believe that Activision and 7 Studios have improperly used confidential information obtained from Genius and 7 Studios to interfere with our efforts to complete the game. In short, we believe that Activision is attempting to sabotage the release of our much anticipated game and prevent it from getting to market prior to the release of DJ Hero." 

Jack O'Donnell, Chief Executive Officer of Numark, added, "We also firmly believe the recent actions by 7 Studios are an obvious breach of the development agreement and we look forward to receiving our work product and property back, and completing and successfully launching our game on schedule."