KOTOR 2 Switch Lawsuit: From False Advertising to Demonic Possession and a Secret Settlement
A two-and-a-half-year legal battle stemming from a canceled Knights of the Old Republic II DLC on the Nintendo Switch has concluded with a settlement between Aspyr and a group of gamers.The suit, initially filed over claims of “false advertising,” took a series of unexpected turns, involving accusations of bizarre behavior and attempts to shield sensitive business facts.
The dispute began in the late summer of 2023 when gamer Malachi Mickelonis sued Aspyr,alleging consumer fraud after feeling “completely duped” by the studio. Aspyr had released KOTOR 2 on Switch in 2022, and a YouTube trailer for the port briefly indicated that downloadable content based on the popular Restored Content Mod would arrive in the third quarter of that year. That DLC never materialized, ultimately leading to it’s cancellation and sparking the legal challenge.
The case quickly escalated beyond a standard consumer complaint. Represented by former corporate lawyer Ray Kim, the plaintiff’s legal strategy took an unconventional approach. In November 2023, after Aspyr’s legal team sought to have the case dismissed and sanctions imposed on Kim, the lawyer responded with a filing invoking the lyrics of Lil Wayne. “Tunechi, a.k.a. Lil Wayne, once declared ‘Okay, you’re a goon, but what’s a goon to a Goblin?? Nothing.Nothing. You ain’t scaring nothing,'” Kim wrote, identifying his client and himself as the “goblins” facing off against Aspyr’s “goons.”
The legal sparring continued, with accusations flying from both sides. According to one filing, a representative from Aspyr’s legal firm, attorney Keith Scully of Newman, allegedly began yelling at Mickelonis “as if possessed by a demon.” scully, however, countered that he simply raised his voice to steer the conversation toward a “productive discussion.”
aspyr initially defended its position by arguing that offering a free game as compensation for the canceled DLC negated the claims of false advertising. This argument failed to convince the presiding judge. The studio then asserted that the DLC tease in the YouTube trailer was too brief to be widely seen, claiming that “many YouTube viewers skip [videos] after the first five seconds.”
Further complicating matters, Aspyr brought in expert testimony from Frank Gilson, Blizzard’s former production manager, who testified in April that the promised DLC held “no economic value” due to its reliance on free, fan-made content.
perhaps the most intriguing aspect of the lawsuit involved Aspyr’s attempts to redact certain documents. The studio argued that email exchanges between Aspyr and Lucasfilm contained a “key trade secret”: the identities of key contacts at Lucasfilm essential for securing access to Star Wars intellectual property. Aspyr claimed cultivating these relationships had taken “years, sometimes decades,” and their disclosure would inflict “lasting business harm.” The court ultimately granted the redaction requests.
Watch the original Nintendo Switch declaration trailer for Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II – the Sith Lords here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Watch On](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Watch On)
The case evolved from a potential class-action lawsuit to one involving fewer than 20 gamers as the judge ruled it could proceed to trial. This progress prompted settlement negotiations, ultimately leading to an agreement between Mickelonis and aspyr. A separate case between the gamers and Disney, which had intervened to block the use of the Restored Content mod in the DLC, was also settled out of court. The terms of both settlements remain confidential, bringing an end to a remarkably unusual chapter in video game legal history.
