Ark Dev Settles Lawsuit for Reported $40 Million

@heqteur: Or settling to give 40 million $ could be the cheaper and less messy option compared to the other. Settlements rarely reflects guilt and more often than not is about the cheaper and more convenient option. Hence the large number of frivolous law suits you see everywhere.

Not saying Wildcard isn't guilty of everything here, just saying a settlement means nothing.

@CrouchingWeasel: non-competes are a necessary evil; if you own a company that has a good reputation and a good product but is somehow struggling to make ends meet, and I come in and buy it from you for a good amount of money, it'd be silly of me to not have you sign one.

You, suddenly a rich person, could just move down the street, make the same product, poach my employees b/c they might be loyal to you, and suddenly the business I saved from your mismanagement is defunct. Worse case scenario, your second business goes bankrupt also because you don't know how to manage stuff, and suddenly the world is devoid of a product you believed in, all because you got greedy and possessive.

I understand sometimes there are hostile takeovers (or whatever) and people are essentially forced or bribed to sign non-compete contracts, but they're generally well-paid for this and given far, far, far more money for the duration of the contract than they would have made just working for the duration.

Anyway, the moral and philosophical issues are moot; the guy signed a contract, if he didn't honor it that's his problem.

@CrouchingWeasel: Non competes aren't terribly ridiculous depending the duration. I think a year to two max is reasonable, given compensation. You can't have this knowledge and then go to a competitor for them to just catch up in mere months, what took years and hardwork. Also, the poaching is what really hurt it I think.

The guy had a one year non compete. It's not awful. At least both sides settled and will continue.

@CrouchingWeasel: The point being he did sign it. He did understand it and he broke it. Constrictive they may be, but if you agree to one, then stick to it.

@holenjd: Or, more than likely, they don't want to go through a long and contrived legal battle that will potentially impact their business and might even cost more at the end of the day, even if they do win.

@ascendedmaster: "Why can't they go after crappy games instead of this good one"

That's a pretty horrible attitude. So because they have a good game they should be able to get away with whatever?

@ascendedmaster: They put the game few times on sale on Steam like they always do and 40mil will be made back in no time...they already made 100s millions on this game thats why they settled so they dont lose more.

@ascendedmaster: They did a ton of things wrong. Stieglitz violated his contract with Trendy a bunch and used his wife's maiden name (she is not in the game development industry) at Wildcard to try to hide his involvement.

@Jacanuk: ???

Said somebody on gamespot.....

@arcanesmile: that's not how it works. If you read the article if they never settled then Trendy could file to have the game taken off shelves until everything was done. If anyone know how long this type of litigation goes. it could of meant the end for the game period. It was either pay them something or the possibility of losing the game all together.

@arcanesmile: Maybe, maybe not. Sometimes people settle because they don't have the money to fight something in court. It's what keeps patent trolls afloat. Either that or they can't afford losing the suit.

What the guy did was wrong but I think they wanted way, way, WAY too much out of them. It's the legal equivalent of bullying, and it's in hopes of somehow actually winning it or hoping the other side caves like what happened here.

@arcanesmile: it does not mean they were guilty, just that they could have lost the lawsuit. also it's not a criminal lawsuit, but a civil one, so guilty might not be the right word to use

@zerooo0: Ummm... No. Contracts are written for a reason. The guy clearly, repeatedly violated his contract, and directly made money by doing so.

He got off easy, regardless of whether you're an ARK fan or not.