Video games have made an incredible global impact since their creation. You may either see video games as fun, or as a way to make money. Video games are a business, either for the publisher or competitive gamers. Games aren’t just a small-time money maker. The video game industry brings in countless amounts of money each year.
With the money making potential of video games, everyone wants a piece of the action. No one is safe from the potential profit. Lawsuits range from copyright infringement to disgruntled developers going after their former company for being unfairly fired. Even celebrities or reality stars go after developers their likenesses are used in a game. They don’t want to appear in games without their permission and a hefty paycheck.
Not all of these video game lawsuits are meant to make a quick buck. The video game industry has a bad reputation of overworking their employees to churn out games for a quick profit. Some have led to real change within the video game industry. Publishers can try and take the hard-earned money from creators by firing them before paying them. Gamers also learned how larger publishers push around their developers, and their protests have also cost them money.
Lawsuits have continued with the gaming industry. Some lawsuits have helped the industry balance the relationship between publishers, developers, and gamers. Check out our list of some of the craziest video game lawsuits, proving anyone can sue anyone or any company for any reason.
15 Alyson Reeves Vs. Blizzard
World of Warcraft is one of the most popular and long-running MMORPGs. Games have to both purchase the game then pay a monthly subscription fee to play on Blizzard’s servers. Not everyone is a fan of how Blizzard runs their online world. Others may have been banned from the game, but still want to play. That’s where Alyson Reeves stepped in. Reeves ran a company called Scapegaming, which ran private servers for WoW. Scapegaming was a huge success with over 425,000 registered users and $3 million in her PayPal account. Blizzard sued Reeves, claiming copyright infringement and unfair competition. Reeves didn’t show up to court because she’s from the country of Georgia so, by default, Blizzard won. Blizzard was awarded $88 million dollars, which included statutory damages, unfair profits, and attorney’s fees.
14 Uri Geller Vs. Pokémon
Uri Geller is a psychic and magician. He amazes audiences with his power of bending spoons. He was horrified when he discovered the Pokémon Yungerer (or Kadabra in the U.S.), thinking the Pokémon was based off him. Not only could Yungerer psychically bend spoons, but they also shared similar Katakana spellings of their names. He also claimed that Yungerer’s design was antisemitic, due to the star design on its forehead and lighting bolts resembling the Waffen-SS logo. He stated “Nintendo turned me into an evil, occult Pokémon character. Nintendo stole my identity by using my name and my signature image.” In November 2000, he sued Nintendo for over $87 million dollars, claiming the Pokémon was an unauthorized parody. A settlement has still not been reached.
13 Dawn Of The Dead Vs. Dead Rising
Dawn of the Dead and Dead Rising both feature scenarios where characters fight zombies inside of a two story shopping mall. The group that owns George Romero’s Dawn of the Dead film, MKR Group, believed that Capcom’s Dead Rising was too similar to the Romero film. MKR argued Dead Rising copied elements from the movies, such as having a gun shop, zombies wearing plaid shirts, use of the word “hell” in the tagline, and using items to destroy zombies in creative ways. After careful review, Judge Richard Seeborg said both pieces of zombie media had some similarities but also “profound differences.” Dawn of the Dead was about anti-consumerism. Judge Seeborg dismissed the case stating that Dead Rising is mostly about killing zombies and there is no clear theme. MKR Group was over analyzing Capcom’s game, while in reality, Dead Rising is casual zombie slaying.
12 King Kong Vs. Donkey Kong
In early 1933, the giant gorilla in King Kong made his movie debut. He became one of Universal Studio’s most popular monsters. King Kong eventually debuted in Japan in the movie King Kong vs. Godzilla. In the early 1980s, Shigeru Miyamoto wanted to create an arcade game about Popeye but was unable to secure the rights. He settled for creating new characters, and the main villain was a giant gorilla named Donkey Kong. Donkey Kong was extremely successful. As video games rose in popularity, Universal Studios wanted a piece of the action. When learning about Donkey Kong, they were horrified and tried to sue anyone involved. Universal claimed that gamers would be confused between King Kong and Donkey Kong, and believe they were the same. Nintendo had Market Research Analyst Jerry Momoda play the game in court and describe the differences between Donkey Kong and King Kong. Nintendo won the case.
11 Lindsay Lohan Vs. Rockstar Games
Celebrity actress Lindsay Lohan once took a selfie while wearing a red string bikini and holding up a peace sign. Later, Grand Theft Auto V released artwork of Lacey Jones doing a similar pose while wearing a bikini. Lohan filed a lawsuit against both Take-Two and Rockstar Games, claiming the developer used her likeness without permission and failed to pay her. She also disapproved of Jones’ characterization of being a drug-addicted celebrity suffering from an eating disorder. Take-Two and Rockstar originally thought it was a frivolous claim, but Lohan didn’t give up. In response, Take-Two and Rockstar stated the game was a work of art, which is protected in New York under the First Amendment. The courts ruled against Lohan.
10 Sega Vs. Gearbox Software
Have you ever played a video game so bad that you wanted to return it? Sometimes publishers feel the same way. Aliens: Colonial Marines was heavily criticized when it was released. The publisher, Sega, filed a lawsuit against the developer, Gearbox Software. Sega claimed that the game failed to meet the potential in the pre-release trailers that promoted the game. Gearbox as a company wanted to be removed from the lawsuit, claiming it only developed the game and had no part in promotions. Sega turned closer attention to the studio head Randy Pitchford for making false promises. Gearbox and Sega both settled. But Sega wasn’t off the hook since they published it and still had their name tied to the game. In a related class-action lawsuit, Sega agreed to pay $1.25 million.
9 Sanders Vs. Acclaim Entertainment, Inc.
After the tragic events at Columbine High School, families who lost loved ones tried to learn more about what happened. Since the killers, Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris, were no longer alive, they went after their families and companies who created violent content. The grieving families knew that Klebold and Harris were fans of video games, like Doom and Grand Theft Auto. They believed that playing violent video games led to a desire to commit real world violence. Those who filed the lawsuit against Acclaim Entertainment claimed they were responsible for the deaths since they created violent games. Acclaim created Mortal Kombat to entertain gamers, and not promote violence. Judge Lewis Thornton Babcock reviewed the claim and dismissed it. He decided that the developer could not predict Klebold and Harris’ violent actions.
8 Tim Langdell Vs. Anyone Who Used “Edge”
Tim Langdell likes the word “edge.” He likes it so much that he created the game development and publisher Edge Games. Langdell doesn’t like it when other developers try to use his favorite word, and he filed several copyrights so that other competitors could not use “edge” in their game titles. The first victim was Mobigame’s iPhone app Edge, which was removed under threat of a lawsuit. He later went after Electronic Arts for the 2008 title Mirror’s Edge. Edge Games eventually settled with EA games. He continued with lawsuits against Namco’s Soul Edge and Cybernet’s Edge of Extinction. Not even video game related manufacturers were safe. Langdell filed a lawsuit against UK game publication Edge Magazine. He most recently attempted to file a lawsuit against Razer for their Razer Edge product but was eventually denied to proceed.
7 Richard Minsky Vs. Second Life
Richard Minsky was a successful bookmaker. He discovered the world of Linden Lab’s Second Life. Wanting to bring art to the virtual world, he founded SLART, a journal that focused on the virtual art within the world of Second Life. One of Second Life’s users, Victor Keegan, also used SLART as the name of his Second Life art museum. Minsky decided to file a lawsuit against Linden Lab. In turn, Linden Lab filed a suit with the US Trademark Office to try and cancel Minsky’s trademark of the word SLART and also attempted to cancel his Second Life membership. Federal Judge Lawrence E. Kahn argued that the word SLART has many slang interpretations. One year later, the case was settled out of court. Minsky lost his copyright of SLART months later.
6 Smallwood Vs. NCsoft
Craig Smallwood is a middle-aged man living in Hawaii. You might think that he would be out enjoying the beautiful island. Instead, in 2004 he became addicted to NCsoft’s MMORPG Lineage II. He was hooked for five years, playing for over 20,000 hours. He decided to solve his addiction in the courtroom. He filed a lawsuit against the South Korean developer, claiming that the game made him dependent on the “great feelings of euphoria and satisfaction" while playing. His addiction made him unable to do day-to-day activities or spend time with family and friends. He claims the developer should have warned gamers that their game was highly addictive. US District Judge Alan C. Kay allowed the case to be heard and NCsoft was forced to pay Smallwood’s legal fees.
5 Nintendo Vs. Blockbuster
In the early days of gaming compared to present day, gamers have complained about the cost of video games. Before the days of massive Steam sales, gamers saved money by renting video games from physical stores. One massive rental store was Blockbuster Video. Nintendo was not a fan of renting games. In the early 1990s, the gaming giant had already succeeded in banning rentals in Japan. They filed a lawsuit against Blockbuster for including photo copies of NES manuals in its rental games. Nintendo won, and Blockbuster included the original manuals, which were usually stolen before gamers could read them. Nintendo tried to move forward by stating that people could also copy cartridges. Blockbuster argued that their service for renting games was an excellent promotion for Nintendo. Technology progressed but in a different way. Rental stores slowly died out in favor of digital goods, which made Nintendo more profit.
4 Manuel Noriega Vs. Activision
The Call of Duty series often mixes fiction with reality. In Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, one of the story campaigns has the main character Frank Woods hunting down Manuel Noriega, former military dictator of Panama. Noriega found out about his video game appearance from his grandchildren. He filed a lawsuit against Activision in July 2014 for using his likeness without permission. A nickname “Old Pineapple Face” given to him by Panamanians was also used without his permission. He claimed he was unfairly portrayed as “a kidnapper, murderer, and enemy of the state.” Noriega filed the lawsuit while in a Panama prison, where he was found guilty of money laundering, drug trafficking, and murder. He failed to provide evidence that Black Ops 2 harmed his reputation, and in October 2014, the case was dismissed.
3 Wilson Vs. Midway Games
When Mortal Kombat was first released, parents were horrified at the amount of violence and gore. That didn’t stop some parents from buying the game for their kids or stop children from being obsessed with the fighting game. In 1997, Noah Wilson, a 13-year-old boy, was killed. His best friend stabbed him in the heart, which severed his aorta. His best friend was also addicted to Mortal Kombat, believing he was the robotic ninja, Cyrax. Wilson’s mother sued Mortal Kombat’s developer, Midway Games, for creating such a violent game. The court stated that Midway Games was not liable for the death under the First Amendment. The State of Connecticut, where the lawsuit was filed, could not violate Midway’s free speech to develop the video game they wanted.
2 College Athletes Vs. EA Games And The NCAA
Being a professional athlete can grant you high paying salaries, product endorsements, and having your likeness in a sports game. Many athletes in college strive to make it to the big leagues. Between 2003 and 2014, both the NCAA and EA Games were using college athletes in their games. However, these athletes were not being paid for their likenesses being used in the game. The athletes hired a team of lawyers who claimed EA and the NCAA violated the Sherman Antitrust Act. The judge ruled in favor of the athletes, and the NCAA and EA settled for $60 million. Each athlete that appeared in a game without permission were eligible for an estimated $7,000 each. It was a landmark case that had college athletes paid for the first time in history.
1 Jack Thompson Vs. Every Violent Video Game Developer
Jack Thompson took the gaming world by storm in the early 2000s. He was a lawyer and worked as an activist against sex and violence in video games. He not only went after video games, but all media that he believed was obscene. Thompson believed that young children who played violent video games had brain development issues. He heavily criticized popular games, such as Grand Theft Auto and Mortal Kombat, branding them as “murder simulators.” He believed that first person shooters were giving children “efficient killing skills.” Thompson filed lawsuits in several different states around America and accepted any case that revolved around a death and a Defendant who played video games. His constant lawsuits ended up costing him his legal license, and he was disbarred by the Supreme Court of Florida.
