THQ wins WWE suit against Jakks

By Robert Purchese Published 28 July, 2009

Developer entitled to less money.

THQ has won the latest legal bout with Jakks regarding who owns what of the WWE licence.

The court ruling means Jakks may only now claim six per cent of royalties from WWE SmackDown vs. RAW game sales, according to Kotaku. The developer was previously entitled to 10 per cent and, furthermore, the ruling is retroactive right back to July 2006.

THQ, therefore, stands to make around $23m extra during the quarter ending September 2009.

This latest scuffle follows tussling between the two in June, when THQ claimed Jakks had no authorisation to seek renewal of the WWE licence without publisher permission.

THQ has a sturdy leg to stand on, of course - as new fighting series UFC 2009: Undisputed enjoys critical and commercial success.

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About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (17) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Bi50N Verified Head of Global Communications, THQ #1 3 years ago

    Jakks is not the devleoper... that would be Yuke's...

  • WinterSnowblind #2 3 years ago

    Does this mean THQ won't be doing any of the future Smackdown games past 2010?

    Yearly sports game are always nothing but small updates, but Smackdown is about the only one that seems to be getting worse with each itteration.. Removing key modes, features and moves, only to bring them back in later years as "new features". I'd even rather see EA do them, even if it means sitting through 2 or 3 sucky games before the series gets going.

  • zisssou #3 3 years ago

    EA do them?! Do you not remember Backstage Assault?

  • ObiChrisKenobi #4 3 years ago

    To be fair the games have got worse each year, with seemingly less content and more glam to cover it up.

  • WinterSnowblind #5 3 years ago

    EA have improved massively over the years, and it obviously wouldn't be the same team that made Backstage Assualt that would be working on it now. The point was, giving it to anyone would be an improvement at this stage.

  • Hunam #6 3 years ago

    I remember when THQ were ace dudes, what's happening to them? For shame.

  • kingnothing12 #7 3 years ago

    Damn where are the guys that made No Mercy? The greatest wrestling game of all time.

  • Aretak #8 3 years ago

    Their most recent output has included Sim City DS and the lamentable Ready 2 Rumble: Revolution. I believe they said they'd never work with THQ again after being treated badly by them, so we won't be seeing another good WWE game until THQ lose the licence (something I've been hoping for for years).

  • ObiChrisKenobi #9 3 years ago

    I'm sure EA would love to get their hands on the license, if only to get one over on UFC and Dana White after all the trash talking between the two companies.
    That would give coverage in nearly all areas of 'fighting' - Boxing, MMA & Wrestling. Though, I've got to agree with some people that it'll take a few years for the best version to come out.

  • HermitArcader #10 3 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • mikew1985 #11 3 years ago

    Aki developed No Mercy I believe, then THQ decided that instead of following the path of the N64 games(the good ones) they would follow the shallow pap Yukes created. I'm not even a wrestling fan at all but No Mercy was the dogs bollocks!

    I believe Aki also developed Def Jam and Def Jam: Fight for New York for EA, so if EA did get the license it is possible they would be brought in as developer. Def Jam 1 was a pretty straight forward no frills wrestling sim with Def Jam Characters but also the deep character creation move set of NM. fight for New York was less of a wrestling sim and more of a fun albeit shallow brawler.

  • schnide #12 3 years ago

    @Hunam

    Seriously? THQ used to be shite, as a publisher they've really got it together these days.

  • brappbrap #13 3 years ago

    There hasn't been a good Smackdown game since Smackdown 2

  • sneetch #14 3 years ago

    "THQ has a sturdy leg to stand on, of course - as new fighting series UFC 2009: Undisputed enjoys critical and commercial success."

    Sweep the leg.

    Cobra Kai!

  • LiamK #15 3 years ago

    Day of Reckoning on the Gaemcube was awesome in 4 player mode. I'd take an updated version of that over a new Smackdown any day of the week.

  • The_Mountie #16 3 years ago

    The SMACKDOWN Vs RAW series is abominable. Has been for years, but it's a surefire seller.

    - Way too many restrictions (some gratiutously so).
    - Creaking combat engine.
    - Some diabolically weak-looking motion captured moves.
    - Clipping polygons left, right, and centre.
    - And a thousand other major and minor problems.

    .

    What is needed is a new game (a NON- WWE/TNA one), with an ultra-deep wrestler creation mode. Even the much heralded Fire Pro Wrestling Returns doesn't have anywhere near the depth of configuration and design that a great grappler game requires. It's not rocket science.

    Couple that with the option to either play the game in a KAYFABE manner (i.e. pretending the in-ring grappling is 'real', like most games haved tended to do so far), OR to play the game as a series of SCRIPTED matches (i.e. 'storytelling' an in-ring match with proper build-up and calling 'high spot' move sequences. Where winning is not the key, but putting on an exciting match is).

    .

    Oh, and a decent 'crowded ring' game mechanic to provide a intelligent and fun way of playing 10-man battle royal matches.

    .

    There's too many strings attached to the WWE (and TNA / ROH) brands to allow a truly excellent and unrestricted pro wrestling videogame. One example is with the women wrestlers, which year-after-year get disallowed from being included in playmodes such as cage fights and backstage brawls. For no good technical reason. Such a needless boneheaded restriction in a WWE videogame is merely to 'align' with what the WWE/THQ wants to reflect of its weekly television product. To the detriment of videogame players.

  • ObiChrisKenobi #17 3 years ago

    @The_Mountie

    As good as that idea might be without the names and branding, it wouldn't sell the units to be worthwhile or get green lighted by THQ or any other developer/distributor.

    IF THQ do one year UFC and one year WWE, then we might see some improvement, but I doubt it, too much money to be made.