With the UK video game market worth over £7bn and with British computer game studios being some of the biggest and most prolific in the world, video games are not only big business but they are also serious business, as one early but highly infamous lawsuit proves.

The case, between Artic Computing based in Brandesburton and Prism Leisure Corporation in Enfield, actually starts due to a non-legal issue between two much larger computer game companies in the UK.

In 1985, Birmingham-based publisher and distributor U.S. Gold received the rights to create a game based on the 1986 FIFA World Cup, which would be the first game to feature an official football license.

U.S. Gold made an agreement with Manchester-based Ocean Software, but at some point, communication broke down between the two companies and the game simply did not exist with just three months before the start of the tournament.

In somewhat of a panic, U.S. Gold contacted anyone with a pre-existing football game that could be turned into World Cup Carnival and ultimately made an agreement with Artic Computing, who sold the rights to their existing 1984 title World Cup Football.

All of the logos and licenses were added to the game, and the box came packed with extras but the game was reviewed terribly, although it sold very well, and U.S. Gold made a cover story that an unnamed developer made an alternative game so bad that they could not release it.

Artic sold them the game out of desperation, but as it would turn out, they did not have the right to sell the rights to World Cup Football, as they had been sold to Prism Leisure Corporation as part of another huge fire sale to keep themselves afloat.

They were sued, instructed to pay all proceeds from the game to Prism and promptly went bankrupt.

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