It seems weird to be writing about Trion Worlds again, but here we are. MMO players will recall that back in 2015, three gamers filed a class action lawsuit against the MMO company, alleging that Trion violated consumer laws, falsely advertised a 10% founder perk discount for its cash shop, and broke California’s illegal-lottery law in regard to ArcheAge. The lawsuit dragged on for years as Trion sought to force the case into arbitration and then imploded last year, offloading all of its assets, including its MMOs, directly to Gamigo and a subsidiary, Golden Gate Games, apparently created to house former US-based Trion employees.
The lawsuit against what’s left of Trion Worlds, however, continues. In new documents filed in the last week and kindly supplied to Massively OP by Connor of MMO Fallout, the lead plaintiffs say they are investigating whether to add Gamigo’s US entity to the suit, potentially because Trion is running out of insurance money.
“Specifically, Plaintiffs’ counsel have continued discussions with counsel for Trion’s Directors and Officers Liability insurer about settlement. Trion’s Directors and Officers Liability insurance policy appears to be Trion’s most significant remaining asset. The policy is being depleted by defense costs. Plaintiffs have submitted broad settlement structure to Trion’s Directors and Officers Liability insurer and are awaiting response. Defendant’s insurer anticipates providing response to Plaintiffs settlement proposal within the next 10 days.”
As Connor pointed out to us, it’s not entirely clear why Trion has no other assets, given that it ought to have something after selling all its games to Gamigo. It also appears that the deal’s purchase order may wind up becoming part of the public record – if we ever see a real trial here.
For its part, the County of San Mateo court system doesn’t seem too impressed with the delays and is expediting the conferencing. “Given the age of this case, further continuances will not be granted [as] the case is not actually settled and a Notice of Settlement filed,” the judge’s latest notice says. “Case Management Conference is set for Thursday, August 8, 2019 at 11:00 a.m.”
See y’all in August.
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