HD Publishing Adds Denial To Mithis Controversy

Following recent news that publisher SCi was being investigated over allegations of theft and sabotage by Hungarian developers MGE and Mithis Entertainment (a claim later denied by SCi), Dutch publisher HD Publishing b.v., also been named in the controversy, has itself issued a statement categorically denying any wrongdoing. HD's involvement is through the publishing of the formerly Mithis-developed PC real-time strategy game Joint Task Force, which is being co-published by Vivendi Universal Games. HD Publishing commmented that it is aware of the press speculation concerning the theft, but “is not aware of any criminal or civil proceedings brought against it in Hungary or anywhere else in relation to Joint Task Force.” The statement from HD Publishing also hypothesizes that, following the 2005 legal proceedings relating to Joint Task Force in the English High Court between HD Publishing b.v. and MGE and Mithis, that “any complaint that may have been made to the police by MGE and Mithis in relation to Joint Task Force and the involvement of the media is simply a transparent attempt to bypass the English court proceedings and an unreasonable attempt to try to apply pressure.” While Joint Task Force was initially developed by Mithis, the game's development was confirmed at E3 in May to be switched over to Most Wanted Entertainment, the Hungarian development arm of HD Publishing. The game is currently scheduled for release in the fall of 2006. In addition, the statement notes that the company has not been contacted by the police, and the publisher only first found out about the news when the story broke over the weekend. The company also added that that it believes that the complaints made by MGE and Mithis “appear to be made indiscriminately against all publishers of games formerly being developed by Mithis.”