Crytek is attempting to temporarily dismiss its own lawsuit against Star Citizen creator Cloud Imperium Games (CIG) and Roberts Space Industries (RSI) until the development duo has released its upcoming spin-off Squadron 42. 

The Crysis maker sued the pair back in 2017 for a breach of contract and copyright infringement, claiming both companies had signed an exclusive agreement to develop Star Citizen using CryEngine. That agreement allegedly also barred them from using CryEngine to produce a standalone, non-Star Citizen game such as Squadron 42.

As spotted by Redditor RiSC1911, the suit was initially scheduled to go to trial on June 16, 2020, but Crytek has now filled a motion to dismiss voluntarily without prejudice as it doesn’t see any point in the case moving forward until Squadron 42 has released.

According to court documents highlighted on Reddit, it appears that Crytek now believes CIG and RSI won’t have committed any offense until Squadron 42 has officially launched. Given it seems unlikely the title will be rolled out this year, the company is keen to have the lawsuit dismissed so it can be refiled in the future. 

"Based on CIG’s responses to certain written discovery, which Crytek contends revealed new information regarding the ripeness of one of Crytek’s existing claims, Crytek wished to voluntarily dismiss its claims against CIG without prejudice, with the intention of refiling the suit against CIG following the release of Squadron 42 by CIG," reads one document.

"Crytek's motion for voluntary dismissal without prejudice is premised on CIG’s recent interrogatory responses, which indicated [the] Squadron 42 breach of contract claim was unripe," adds another document.

"Thus, should CIG release Squadron 42 as a standalone game, the case would be in exactly the same position it is in currently. In short, granting Crytek's voluntary dismissal now would do nothing more than allow […] the claim to ripen so that the parties can fully resolve the disputes between them in a single proceeding."

For context, the term 'discovery' refers to a phase in proceedings during which both parties can exchange documents and conduct interviews to gather information for a future trial. 'Ripeness,' meanwhile, refers to a case that could rest on the occurrence of future events -- in this instance, the launch of Squadron 42. 

At the time of writing, the trial has be re-scheduled for October 13, 2020, so the court has enough time to rule on the voluntary dismissal motion without impacting the case. CIG has until January 24, 2020, to respond to the dismissal motion.