DJ Battle Erupts As Scratch Publisher Sues Scratch Developer... And Activision

So at what point does Konami step in and sue everyone all over again for biting Beatmania?

Here's a bit of wild news out of "Scratch DJ Game LLC," the joint venture formed to publish Scratch: The Ultimate DJ, a rhythm-themed game that has been under development at 7 Studios. The company is suing its developer and Activision, claiming that Activision first tried to buy the rights to Scratch, and when that offer was rejected, the mega-publisher went and bought 7 Studios instead. Further allegations claim that 7 Studios started dragging its feet on the Scratch project after this, withholding software and hardware from its publisher.

That's pretty intense right there. But my favorite part of filings like these is when they try to get qualitative about the products in question. Like so:

“We believe that Activision realizes the tremendous opportunity that our game, Scratch, represents to the video game industry, the retail marketplace and the consumer. After demonstrating our game, pursuant to the confidentiality agreement with Activision, we believe Activision concluded that Scratch: the Ultimate DJ is a superior offering to their prospective game, DJ Hero,” stated Mr. Trevor Drinkwater, President and CEO of Genius Products, Inc.

There's something really weird about saying "legally speaking, we think that they think that our game is better."

The rest of the press release about the lawsuit sort of reads like, well, a press release, covering the Scratch Deck hardware and the presence of artists such as Kanye West, Lil' Wayne, and Black Eyed Peas.

Ben Fritz over at Variety checked in with a source at 7 Studios, who confirmed that the company has been acquired by Activision, and that work on Scratch is still being done.