New Aliens: Colonial Marines Info Trickles Out During Lawsuit

If you're a fan of the Aliens franchise, the term "Colonial Marines" likely causes knots in your stomach. When Aliens: Colonial Marines came out in 2013 it was universally panned for, not only being an overall poor product, but for how markedly different the game appeared in the final product than it did in pre-release footage. After the game's release, both developer Gearbox and publisher Sega have been subject to a lawsuit claiming that both parties falsely presented the game to consumers at trade shows and in early trailers.

Since the lawsuit began, both Sega and Gearbox have essentially been pointing fingers at one another in order to shift blame off themselves, with Gearbox saying that, as the game's publisher, Sega had final say in how the game would be presented to the public.

With the ball in Sega's court, Polygon reports that the publisher fired its own shots back at Gearbox in the motion filed this week, stating that while Sega was initially given control over the marketing of the game, both Gearbox and Sega eventually came to an agreement that both parties would have to approve everything that was shown of Aliens: Colonial Marines. However, it doesn't seem like that was how things inevitably went down.

"The parties had to mutually agree to the 'precise particulars of marketing assets' delivered by Gearbox," according to the motion. "Gearbox's participation — Randy Pitchford's, in particular — was a key element in the ACM marketing strategy from the beginning."

The motion also clarified that the game's E3 2011 demo, the one widely considered to be the least representative of the final game, was entirely made by Gearbox.

Elsewhere the filing cites eight other instances where Gearbox made announcements to press and fans without the knowledge or permission of Sega, some of which were done despite Sega actively requesting that Gearbox not present certain information to the public.

All of this culminated in pointing to Gearbox's Randy Pitchford as the culprit behind much of the preemptively released media and information.

Aliens Colonial Marines came to PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in early 2013. A Wii U version was also planned for release before being cancelled in April of that year.