Saying that Aliens: Colonial Marines was received poorly by gamers is a bit of an understatement. The game was so reviled after its release in 2013 that a class action lawsuit was launched against its creators, claiming that Colonial Marines had been falsely advertised at trade shows like E3.

“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,” the original claim stated. “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.”

But even if there is enough blame to go around for everything that was wrong with the game, court documents recently obtained by Polygon show that Gearbox Software, the Dallas-based developer of Colonial Marines, has been dropped from the suit. Gearbox had already asked that the case be dismissed earlier this year, but U.S. District Judge James Donato originally denied their request on May 12.

The decision to drop Gearbox from the case appears to have been made by the plaintiffs’ attorneys, who agreed to dismiss their suit against Gearbox with prejudice, meaning that they could not file another suit against the developer involving the same case.

After dropping Gearbox from the suit, Donato also denied the case’s class action status, saying that its defined group – gamers who purchased Colonial Marines – was too broad, and now only the two gamers who originally filed the suit will be party to any settlements or damages.

The case still stands against Sega, which published the game, but Gearbox no longer bears any responsibility.

According to Gearbox, Sega had final say in all matters of publicity, so any responsibility for false advertising rests with them. After a lot of finger pointing over the last two years, it looks like Gearbox may still take most of the blame for the quality – or lack thereof – of Colonial Marines, but it will at least remain clear of the false advertising label.

Photo by Doug Kline