Who here had “Myth of Empires resolves its legal woes to the point it gets to re-release” on their 2023 bingo card? We certainly didn’t, but sure enough, the survival sandbox developer Angela Game, Studio Wildcard, and Snail Games have all entered into an agreement that clears away a two year copyright infringement battle and paves the way for the title’s comeback.
The specifics of the settlement were not elaborated on, but a joint announcement from the three companies confirms that Angela Game is now partnering with Snail Games to distribute MOE on PC and other platforms, while Angela Game will also pay ongoing royalty payments to Snail.
The survival sandbox developer appears to be both grateful and contrite in its statement while also appearing to admit to infringing Snail’s copyrighted material. “Angela acknowledges that it caused difficulties for Snail’s business. By working together, Angela and Snail will put those difficulties behind them,” said Angela Game president Yi Ling Zhang. “Angela regrets any difficulties it caused Snail and look forward to moving into this business partnership.”
For those who don’t recall, this entire matter started in December 2021, when Snail Games filed a copyright infringement suit against the MOE studio, alleging that its devs – who formerly worked on ARK: Survival Evolved – stole code from ARK to make its own game. The legal fight caused MOE to be delisted from Steam, but Angela sold the game directly on its website anyway despite the ongoing litigation.
Direct sale of MOE has been suspended outright by the companies as of today; Angela promised to notify players when the game is on sale again and confirmed that those who already purchased the title will still be able to play it in the meantime.
