Too Human and all of the game’s associated content, including a demo, gamer pics, and themes, has been pulled from the Xbox Marketplace at the request of developer Silicon Knights.
Microsoft issued the following statement regarding the move: “Microsoft received a Recall Notice from Silicon Knights for Too Human, and we have removed the game from the Xbox Live Marketplace accordingly. We have no comment regarding, nor involvement with the case between Silicon Knights and Epic.”
Too Human is an Xbox 360 exclusive which was released in 2008 after languishing in development hell for years, and although it was the first part of a planned trilogy, critical and commercial reception to the game was underwhelming.
The case between Silicon Knights and Epic mentioned in the Microsoft statement relates to Silicon Knights suing Epic Games in 2007 for “breach of contract”, the developer having used Epic’s Unreal Engine 3 for Too Human and other titles. Later that same year, Epic counter-sued Silicon Knights and then finally won in May of last year, with Epic receiving over four million dollars in damages. Also, Silicon Knights was ordered to recall and destroy all unsold copies of its games which use the Unreal Engine 3, Too Human being one of them.
Silicon Knights remains in existence, although its future looks bleak after the failure of its most recent title X-Men: Destiny. Apparently only five or less staff members remain at the developer, including chief Denis Dyack.
[Via: Eurogamer]