Kesmai Tells It To the Judge

How bad does Kesmai Corporation hate America Online?

Let us count the ways.

Of course, this isn't much of a challenge. Kesmai's 16,000-word complaint filed in Federal District Court Monday spells out where the ever-growing online mega-service has done the not-so-small-itself online game developer and aggregator wrong.

In the simplest of terms, Kesmai is claiming it was lied to, misled, and is now being ignored by the online giant - with which it has a deal to carry and promote its games. Kesmai claims that if the current behavior continues, Kesmai will go out of business and AOL will monopolize online gaming.

Kesmai claims AOL's stance is not only unfair to Kesmai, but also to other small online game providers and developers, and to the general public as well.

As a sort of side show, Kesmai also claims that the proposed acquisition the CompuServe member base to AOL will only solidify the monopolistic position AOL is intent on establishing.

Included in the complaint are allegations that AOL has abused its monopoly power over the purchase and distribution of online information and entertainment, has damaged and devalued the name, mark and reputation of Kesmai, has committed fraud and breached its contract with Kesmai, has - through its WorldPlay format - created the false impression that WorldPlay, not Kesmai, aggregates the games on the Kesmai platform, has engaged in a course of conduct designed to defraud and destroy Kesmai, and has severely and irreparably damaged and continues to damage Kesmai.

AOL has expectedly denied any wrong doing and attributes the suit to the deep pockets and litigious nature of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp., which owns Kesmai. "News Corp. uses the courts to get what it wants," an AOL spokesperson told GameSpot News today. She characterized the complaint as "bullying litigation" and says Kesmai's claim "is without merit" and that "AOL will defend itself vigorously" against the allegations. An industry insider close to the situation says that gameplay on AOL has all but dried up since the company switched to its pay-to-play model. And that the revenues the games channel generates for AOL have plummeted.

AOL claims that 30 percent of AOL users go to the games channel, which includes WorldPlay.

Can Kesmai survive without AOL? One online gaming company has done its best. Simutronics, which was forced off the WorldPlay map just last month, was able to convert a substantial number of gamers, who had come through AOL's front door, to play Simutronics titles. But the real challenge is in generating new gamers - something that was a snap when the company was affiliated with AOL.

For the full text of Kesmai's complaint, see the link to the right.