Brutal Legend was initially supposed to be published by Activision, but the company dropped the title partway through the process, without even telling the developer. Studio executive producer Caroline Esmurdoc said they didn't even find out until they saw a press release.
"We learned Activision was not going to be publishing Brutal Legend through an official press announcement issued by Activision that listed the games they would be shipping, ours conspicuously absent," she said. "Again, the team was abuzz with anxiety, and the official hunt for a new publisher began, distracting Tim, myself, and various team leads during an already intense development period."
This of course led to EA publishing the game, which in turn led to a lawsuit filed by Activision.
"The lawsuit was filed just as the game went Alpha, with a stipulation that it be heard prior to Gold Master being submitted, relegating Tim and myself and a cadre of team leaders to the unenviable job of information gathering, declaration writing, lawsuit reading, witness interviewing and all around non-game-making during the crunchiest, most critical time of development," said Esmurdoc. "The lawsuit took its toll on the team, on the company, on our product and on our optimism. Wrong, any way you slice it."
The game went through three different publishers and a handful of lawsuits, but it finally released in mid October.
wow i had no idea what money whoring scalliwags activision were
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