Xboxist

Legal Problems for MechWarrior 5

We were pretty excited about the announcement that the ex-microsoft MechWarrior license would be getting a reboot. There was even a fancy preview trailer made and everything. But today, questions have emerged about the legal ownership of some of the mech designs featured in the MechWarrior universe, and this could put the whole project in jeopardy. See, way back before there were even Mechwarrior games, a tabletop RPG called BattleTech lifted some designs from the popular Japanese manga series Robotech/Macross. The company that currently owns the rights to Macross is called Harmony Gold, and they are upset with the new MechWarrior game because they say it uses imagery from the Robotech world.

The offending design is probably the Warhammer mech from the trailer, featured below. It is very similar to the Tomahawk mech featured in the Robotech universe. But seriously, most mech designs are so generic (hands, feet, giant lasers) that it should be hard to claim "ownership" of a specific design. Shouldn't it?

Hopefully this won't impact the publication of the new MechWarrior title, but it is one more obstacle among many standing in the way of the developers at Piranha Games. Because Microsoft still owns some publication rights, it could be difficult for the team to get this project off the ground.

The Warhammer mech, pictured on the right, could be the reason for Piranha's legal troubles.