Namco Bandi is suing Projekt Red's parent company Optimus SA over an issue regarding publishing rights for the Xbox 360 version of The Witcher II in Europe.
While the US could still have the Xbox 360 version released on time, the European version of the game might be delayed for a while.
The issue revolves around Namco not being informed of THQ being awarded of publishing rights in Europe for the Xbox 360 version when Namco and Bandi currently hold the PC and Xbox 360 rights of the game.
According to Namco, they were never informed that THQ was bidding and won rights to the game which prevented Namco or Atari from bidding. Namco also assumed their rights to the PC version and Atari's US rights would have carried over to Europe.
Namco also owns the European branch of Atari while allowing the US branch to be a separate publisher instead of Namco publishing both the PC and Xbox 360 in the US.
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Naturally, Optimus and CD Projekt Red believe both are in the clear.
"Namco's claims are unfounded," reads the statement.
As a consequence of the lawsuit, Namco Bandai is withholding payments of 1,225,000 Euros (roughly $1.75 million dollars).
"In the opinion of the [Optimus] management board, Namco consequently claim the desire to continue cooperation in the distribution [of] CDP RED products after the recent release of games released on PC, due to the expected potential sales of this title for console Xbox 360," concluded the company. (Also, I blame Google Translate for the awkward phrasing.)
Both the Soul Calibur publisher and THQ have not yet responded to requests for comment.
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http://www.giantbomb.com/news/namco-...jekt-red/3460/