Sega and Gearbox Hit with Lawsuit over Aliens: Colonial Marines

Sega and Gearbox Software have been dealt a class-action lawsuit over Aliens: Colonial Marines, with claims that the companies falsely advertised the game during their marketing and promotion.

The suit comes from law firm Edelson LLC, representing plaintiff Damion Perrine, who claim that Sega and Gearbox falsely advertised Colonial Marines by featuring gameplay demo videos at trade shows and events that were not indicative of the final product. Dubbed "actual gameplay" by Gearbox co-founder Randy Pitchford, these demos ended up being vastly different from the game's final retail state (which was noted by many review outlets at the time of release).

Furthermore, the claim argues that the decision to embargo reviews from professional outlets until the game's February 12th release date caused early purchasers of the game to be unaware of the discrepencies.

"Each of the 'actual gameplay' demonstrations purported to show consumers exactly what they would be buying: a cutting edge video game with very specific features and qualities," reads the claim. "Unfortunately for their fans, Defendants never told anyone — consumers, industry critics, reviewers, or reporters — that their 'actual gameplay' demonstration advertising campaign bore little resemblance to the retail product that would eventually be sold to a large community of unwitting purchasers."

"We think the video game industry is no different than any other that deals with consumers," said an Edelson LLC representative to Polygon. "If companies like Sega and Gearbox promise their customers one thing but deliver something else, then they should be held accountable for that decision."

Aliens: Colonial Marines was officially announced all the way back in 2008. Following numerous delays, the game finally released this year to almost universal critical panning.