Aliens: Colonial Marines Lawsuit Drops Gearbox and Class Action Status

The class action lawsuit filed against Gearbox Software and Sega about the falsely advertised capabilities of Aliens: Colonial Marines has started to shrink.

Polygon reports that the plaintiffs in the case have decided to drop Gearbox from the lawsuit. The presiding judge has ruled that the lawsuit is no longer a class action case and will be only representative of the two individuals who started the case in April 2013. The suit was filed through Edelson LLC in Northern California and almost reached a $1.25 million settlement. The premise of the case is that Sega and Gearbox falsely advertised Aliens: Colonial Marines by showing off a version of the game at press events that was much better than the final product, because we've never seen anything like that happen in the industry, ever.

The lawsuit mentions that Randy Pitchford, co-founder of Gearbox, referred to the footage at these press events as "actual gameplay." Of course, the final product did not feature the same visual prowess, AI behavior or levels that were advertised at these events. Last August, Sega was going to reach a settlement for $1.25 million, but only if Gearbox agreed to pay an additional $750,000. Gearbox tried to get the case thrown out, since Sega was the one who had the final word on Colonial Marines' marketing. Sega of course responded back by saying Gearbox is responsible for how the game turned out.

Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge James Donato denied the class certification for the suit while shooting down Gearbox's attempts to dismiss it. The plaintiffs then agreed to drop the suit against Gearbox. In return, Gearbox couldn't try to seek legal fees against them. The judge claims that the class certification didn't specify who should be included in it, whether it was the people who bought the game or those who may have simply seen any potentially misleading advertisements. The judge ruled that there's no definitive way to figure out who was mislead and who wasn't.

The plaintiffs now have until June 3 to decide how they'll proceed against Sega.