In a surprising move regarding the Aliens Colonial Marines lawsuit, Sega has now agreed to settle the class action lawsuit against them according to Polygon at a cost of $1.25m. Of that money, a large amount will be used to pay for legal/admin fees while $2,500 will go to the plaintiff, John Locke and the rest will be used to refund the customers who pre-ordered or bought it on day one.
If approved by the court, Sega will pay $1.25 million into a settlement fund. Of that fund, $312,500 will be used to cover attorney fees for the plaintiffs, $200,000 will be used to cover the cost of administration, $2,500 will go to the plaintiff and the rest will be used to pay to those eligible customers who purchased the game. Payments to customers who fill out a three question claim form, purchased the game before Feb. 13, 2013 and are approved, will not exceed the amount paid for the game. The amount each customer receives back will be dependent on how many people submit claims. No money will be returned to Sega.
The articles points out that this will free Sega from any legal action but the developer Gearbox could still be liable depending on the plaintiffs’ actions. Sega also made it clear in the court documents that the settlement is not an admission of guilt and that they still feel they didn’t do anything wrong with regards to Aliens Colonial Marines. They essentially settled the lawsuit because they didn’t want to waste any more time or money fighting a lawsuit that could potentially take years to end. The settlement isn’t quite final yet, however. The court still needs to approve the settlement which will be done on September 17th. Thanks to ShadowPred for the news.
