I take it you guys know that the development / marketing budget on a game are supposed to be roughly equal, right? Basically, by creating lots of new original content in the Star Trek universe, and giving Activision access to marketing materials from this new content, Viacom were picking up a sizable portion of that tab. And the best bit about it is that they would have done so simply in the process of creating and pushing their new shows.
See, games have to be set around events and characters within the Star Trek universe - and I'm sure you've noticed how doing so, whilst staying true to canon is pretty difficult. Hell - look at Elite Force! A group of Commando's who do the infantry and hazmat work, within a community the size of Voyagers, and never mentioned in any of the shows? That stretches credibility a LOT - and there have only been two games set in that franchise! With more original content, the designer gets to dip in here and there and, like a spider on a web, spread his weight out to avoid too many broken strands.
None of that will happen now - the pool of Star Trek content is vanishingly small, and the popularity of the series is waning amongst devotees and mainstream fans alike. This is nothing but bad news for a company that probably paid mucho dineros for the licensing rights. Whilst it's not fair that Viacom be beaten around the face and neck with a broken bottle, it's entirely fair that Activision recover the cash they spent to secure the licensing. This will mean that they can spend this cash on new product based around OTHER licenses or even, heaven forfend, some original product. Who knows?
The suit is bang on - one side has not lived up to their commitments.
Eon