Double Fine's studio executive producer Caroline Esmurdoc intimated to Game Developer magazine that they only found out that were no longer publishing Brutal Legend in a press release.In the interview the exec spoke very honestly about her experiences of dealing with Activision after they merged with Brutal Legend's original publisher Vivendi.

Esmurdoc revealed: "We had been working collaboratively and successfully with various groups at Vivendi for two years until Vivendi merged with Activision and we lost touch with both publishers while a percolated. The merger announcement and subsequent diminution in publisher contact with Vivendi personnel, especially after such a previously harmonious relationship, caused internal unrest and morale dips among the team."

She continued: "This demoralising uncertainty lingered for months, during which time the leads continued to motivate the team to hit their scheduled milestones while watching our coffers run dry in the absence of any publisher payments. We learned Activision was not going to be publishing Brutal Legend through an official press announcement issued by Activision that listed the games they would be shipping, ours conspicuously absent."

The executive didn't mince words on what the lawsuit did to the game, the team and their opinion of Activision.

Esmurdoc concluded: "The lawsuit was filed just as the game went Alpha, with a stipulation that it be heard prior to Gold Master being submitted-relegating Tim and myself and a cadre of team leaders to the unenviable job of information gathering, declaration writing, lawsuit reading, witness interviewing and all around non-game-making during the crunchiest, most critical time of development. The lawsuit took its toll on the team, on the company, on our product and on our optimism. Wrong, any way you slice it."

By Ewan Aiton