The developer of ambitious sci-fi title Star Citizen has responded to a lawsuit from troubled software company Crytek.

In a motion to dismiss - as uploaded by Reddit user Liudeius - Cloud Imperium Games say that the licensing agreement the firm signed with Crytek doesn't actually back up all of its claims.

For example, Crytek alleges that the deal for using its CryEngine tech was limited to one game, but the licensing agreement treats Star Citizen and Squadron 42 as one item. Furthermore, it also appears that nothing was compelling Cloud Imperium to use CryEngine exclusively, either.

That then ties into another point CIG's lawyers make, which is that the requirement for the developer to promote and mention CryEngine in all marketing falls flat because the studio isn't even using Crytek's engine.

Crytek originally filed its lawsuit in December, alleging that Cloud Imperium had caused "substantial harm". The firm says that CIG was obliged to use its tech exclusively, with Crytek giving the Star Citizen firm a cut price deal on the promise of getting some promotion out of the sci-fi blockbuster.

Star Citizen is an insanely ambitious game, but not one without its issues. The game's 3.0 alpha was only rolled out in December 2017 after being promised a 2016 release.

It has raised close to $200m in crowdfunding, including $34.91m in 2017. While that is down year-on-year, it's roughly double the total amount of money raised by video game Kickstarters last year.

Meanwhile, Crytek has had its fair share of bad press in recent years. The company has had to shut down and sell various studios due to money woes. That's before it got involved with video games cryptocurrency CryCash... for some reason.