Sega Blames Gearbox For Aliens: CM

Aliens: Colonial Marines publisher has Sega moved to settle a class-action lawsuit to the tune of $1.25 million in August for false advertising for the game. They have decided to shift to marketing problems of the game to Gearbox Software, according to court documents obtained by Game Informer. Internal emails between the two companys reveal Gearbox aren't innocent as they seem. The documents indicate that Gearbox told Sega that the E3 2011 demo marketing represented what the developer was aiming for with the final game.

"During one of my conversations with Gearbox today I verified that the E3 Demo is indeed the bar that we should use to determine where the entire game will be," said Sega senior producer Matt Powers in an email to colleagues.

Gearbox's claims that it was not involved in marketing however Sega says that while it was supposed to have approval on all marketing and PR announcements, Gearbox repeatedly made announcements to press without Sega's approval. When confronted Gearbox told a Sega PR representative that Gearbox head Randy Pitchford basically does what he likes.
"I spoke face to face to (Gearbox) Gibson about their persistent panel leaking," said Sega's Matt Eyre in an email. "Effectively — it's Randy [Pitchford] doing whatever the fuck he likes. Apparently he did it twice on [Borderlands 2] also, against all plans and despite the fact they asked him not to."