Saber Interactive files defamation claim, amid Spintires legal dispute
The rights to Steam hit Spintires – as well as the fate of millions of dollars in revenue for spin-off sequels Mudrunner and Snowrunner – are the focus of several major legal claims between Saber Interactive and the game’s original publisher Oovee, Eurogamer can reveal.
The increasingly bitter fight between the two companies escalated significantly last week with the issuing of a press release by a legal firm associated with Oovee containing numerous claims directed at Saber, and the brief return of Spintires to Steam despite its previous delisting in the wake of another legal challenge.
Saber has subsequently filed a defamation claim in relation to Oovee’s allegations, Eurogamer can also reveal, while Spintires’ Steam page is now back offline pending various DMCA challenges.
It’s been eight years since indie off-road driving sim Spintires originally rolled out on Steam. A rough-around-the-edges technical showcase, it was the pet project and brainchild of Pavel Zagrebelnyy, a talented Russian coder who worked at Saber, and who still works there to this day. During the making of Spintires, it was Pavel who entered into an agreement with Oovee, a company that wanted to start game publishing based in Norfolk, UK.
