Silicon Knights ordered to destroy Unreal Engine games

Silicon Knights has gotten another heaping helping of bad news: a court order to cease production of and destroy all games that use the Unreal Engine. The document, signed by district court judge James C. Dever III on Wednesday, requires that the company destroy all versions of game code that used Unreal Engine 3 by no later than December 10, 2012.

The order (via NeoGAF) explicitly names Too Human, X-Men Destiny, The Box/Ritualist, The Sandman, and Siren in the Maelstrom. It also requires Silicon Knights to cease producing or distributing those games, and to recall and destroy any unsold copies. The company is required to destroy any other games using the licensed engine, any versions of Unreal Engine 3 still in its possession, and any information obtained from licensee restricted portions of the Unreal Network. Finally, it owes Epic an additional $4.7 million, a combination of prejudgment interest ($2.3 million), attorney's fees ($2.09 million) and assorted costs ($278,000).

After Silicon Knights modified the Unreal Engine and called it the "Silicon Knights Engine," the company became embroiled in a lengthy legal battle with engine creator Epic Games -- which it subsequently lost to the tune of $4.45 million. The company has suffered two sets of layoffs, one before the legal loss and one after. At last count, only five employees remain, including studio head Denis Dyack.