Padd Solutions

The Story:
In terms of Lineage 3's code disclosure lawsuit, the South Korean court has recently ruled that the 4 core developers of Lineage 3 (including the former development director) and their current employer Bluehole Studio should compensate NCsoft by 2 billion Wons.

This is the civil ruling, following the criminal one in which the core developers of Bluehole Studio were found guilty (on Jun. 26, 2009, the Seoul Central District Court sentenced the former development director of Lineage 3 - Mr. Park to a fixed-term imprisonment of one and a half years with a 2-year suspension of execution for malfeasance and disclosure of business secrets). According to Bluehole Studio, they're not satisfied with the judgement, and will lodge an appeal immediately.




On Jan. 28, the civil department of the Seoul Central District Court rendered a verdict and required the 4 involved defendants including Mr. Park to compensate NCsoft by 2 billion Wons. Meanwhile, the defendants were also ordered not to disclose NCsoft's business secrets to any others, but clear up all related data in hand.

Though at present, NCsoft wins the lawsuit no matter in the criminal judgement or in the civil one, it's still unknown if the MMORPG TERA under development by Bluehole Studio will be fatally affected.


Mr. Park, formerly in charge of Lineage 3's development, got in touch with a Japanese company in 2006 with the aim of attracting investment, and disclosed certain plans related to Lineage 3. Mr. Bae, who was responsible for other projects at that time, was also involved in this matter. Moreover, the former developers of Lineage 3 including Mr. Kang and Mr. Yo switched over to Bluehole Studio after the cancelation of Lineage 3, and applied certain technologies originally adopted in the development of Lineage 3 in Bluehole Studio's new project - Project S1 (currently named TERA)  Story from:  MMOsite

My Take:
This story makes me cry...  I was really looking forward to this game, trying it out.  Now it's future looks murky!  Fly and I both talked about testing it out when we could cause when we found it long ago, we were really impressed with it.  There hasnt been much news on the western website about this game in the last year, just an unmoderated forum where people playing the KR beta are posting news and screens.  Ill try to keep up with this and let you know what is going on with this beautiful looking game.

About TERA: 
Tera Online is an upcoming 3D fantasy MMORPG. Tera intends to set itself apart with its lack of targeting, giving players full control over each move instead of targeting or hotkeys, emphasizing skills in combat. Additionally, the world will not be instanced, placing all players in the same space. This is also significant since player influence will play a huge role in shaping both Tera's economy and its community.

There are set to be six races, with eight classes to choose from, each locked in an ongoing war to protect his or her kingdom. The game is currently in development and scheduled for a release in 2010. It will be subscription based.