Leslie Benzies, the former president of Rockstar North responsible for the Grand Theft Auto series, filed a lawsuit back in 2016 against Rockstar Games’ parent company Take-Two Interactive over allegedly unpaid royalties amounting to $150 million USD. The emails submitted as evidence of a royalties agreement were noted as being “interesting” in nature, with Benzies and the Houser brothers proclaiming their “love” for one another.
As recently reported by ZeroLives, on March 29th, 2018, the New York Supreme Court dismissed Benzies’ royalty claims. The court stated that the language within the emails did not constitute an agreement on equal payment between the three. The court also dismissed various claims made by Benzies, including an unjust enrichment claim, due to lack of evidence. However, the court would not dismiss claims based on Rockstar North’s Employment Agreement that Benzies signed in 2012, which states that Benzies “remains entitled to receive certain royalties.”
This will undoubtedly be a setback in Benzies’ lawsuit as it might nullify most of his remaining filed claims. We will update you on this story if more information becomes available. So far ZeroLives is the only publication to report on this development.
