Dungeons & Dragons publisher Wizards of the Coast and Gale Force Nine settle lawsuit, resume “ongoing partnership”

Miniatures maker Gale Force Nine has settled its lawsuit against Wizards of the Coast, publisher of Dungeon & Dragons and Magic: The Gathering, according to ICv2.

The two companies requested Monday that the case be permanently dismissed from a US District Court in Washington state at no cost to either party and with no fees or awards. Gale Force Nine had originally filed the suit on November 17th after licence renewal talks soured and Wizards of the Coast seemingly sought to renege early on a production deal for Dungeons & Dragons merchandise in several markets.

Gale Force Nine sought $950,000 in damages, along with related costs and previously owed amounts, claiming Wizards had broken an “implied duty of good faith and fair dealing”.

This suit began to look bad for Gale Force Nine after a judge denied its motion for a temporary restraining order on November 25th, which would have protected the remaining contracts from termination on Wizards of the Coast’s end.

The publicly-available docket shows no other updates before the request for dismissal on January 7th. Neither side had moved to discovery, where evidence such as files, phone records and other documents would have needed to be turned over to the court. Ultimately, this ended in Gale Force Nine’s favour, as both its existing contracts and those prematurely terminated will be honoured.

“We are pleased to confirm that we have reached an amicable resolution with Wizards of the Coast," Gale Force Nine told ICv2. "Our ongoing partnership for Dungeons & Dragons will continue and more news will follow at a later date."

This is the second major lawsuit Wizards of the Coast has recently managed to settle out of court. Authors Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman ended their court battle with the publisher over a new Dragonlance book trilogy in December 2020, allowing the pair to continue work on the books based in the Dungeons & Dragons universe.