A Manhattan judge has ruled that a lawsuit filed against pop star Beyonce Knowles last year by game developer Gate Five can go to court, given that Knowles did not give the company enough notice before backing out of a deal.
Gate Five formed a $20 million joint venture with Knowles' Beyonce Inc. in 2010 to develop a game titled
Starpower: Beyonce. However,
the developer alleges Knowles demanded more favorable compensation terms "at a crucial moment in the project's development," driving away the game's financing before pulling out of the project in breach of the original agreement.
Justice Charles Ramos
has now told Knowles that she should not have so abruptly pulled out of the deal, reports the New York Post. "You continue to negotiate right up until the time you pull the plug. That is not going to work with me," he said.
Gate Five was forced to lay off 70 employees as a result of Knowles pulling out of the deal, alleges the company. The company is now seeking to recover $6.7 million in direct investment in the project, as well as over $100 million in potential profits from the title.
Knowles' lawyers say that the singer was well within her rights to pull out of the deal due to the fact that Gate Five allegedly didn't have financing in place for the title.
