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Apr 28, 2011

Gate Five Suing Beyonce Knowles for $100 Million Over Dancing Game

Gate Five claims singer broke contract, ruined studio.

Beyonce Knowles just got served. The pop star was issued a summons on Tuesday notifying her that she's being sued by developer Gate Five for more than $100 million. In a contentious legal filing, the studio alleges Beyonce single-handedly derailed in-development motion-sensing dance game, Starpower: Beyonce, and ruined Christmas for more than 70 devs.

New York Magazine obtained a copy of the summons, which serves as a prelude for what will surely be a scathing full complaint.


"Gate Five seeks to hold Ms. Carter, the iconic pop star known as Beyonce, along with her company, Beyonce, Inc., accountalbe for a bad faith breach of contract so callous that, on what appeared to be a whim, she destroyed Gate Five's business and drove 70 people into unemployment the week before Christmas," the summons reads.

Gate Five claims it entered into an exclusive licensing deal with Beyonce in June 2010, and the two parties planned to create Starpower: Beyonce. And though Beyonce "had already negotiated lavish compensations terms to which she was contractually bound," she decided the deal wasn't good enough, Gate Five alleges.

"At a crucial moment in the project's development, [Beyonce] made an extortionate demand for entirely new compensation terms she suddenly decided she wanted," the summons states. "When her maneuver backfired and drove away the financier, she pulled out of the project in breach of the agreement."

As a result, Gate Five says it will seek $100 million in profits it believes it would have earned from sales of the game, $6.7 million it invested in developing the project, and an injunction against Beyonce from appearing in any other video game.

Beyonce's representatives have yet to respond to requests for comment.

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