Square Enix has settled a lawsuit with a mobile game publisher it had accused of using jointly-made assets from a cancelled title without permission.
As reported by Automaton, Square Enix partnered with HK Ten Tree to collaborate on Front Mission 2089: Borderscape, which was announced in April 2022. By October 2022 the game had been cancelled.
In March this year, however, Square Enix accused Ten Tree of using assets created for Front Mission in its turn-based mecha game, Metal Storm (aka Mecharashi in some Asian territories), and sued for copyright infringement.
Ten Tree promptly and publicly responded to the lawsuit, publishing a statement on Metal Storm’s website that said the firm was seeking an “amicable” resolution with Square Enix. Though Square Enix had initially sought to block Mecharashi’s US release until the disputed assets were removed, as well as $150,000 per copyright infraction, a new statement from Ten Tree now states the two companies have reached a settlement, although the terms of that settlement have not yet been made public. Square Enix therefore dropped its lawsuit on May 20.
“Our company and Square Enix have reached an agreement to settle the dispute regarding our smart device game app Metal Storm,” a statement on Ten Tree’s website explained (as translated by machine).
“We will continue to strive to provide better services to our users. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience caused. We hope you will continue to enjoy the game.”