Court denies Beyonce's appeal in $100 million video game lawsuit, case going to trial

Singer Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has failed in her attempt to have a lawsuit against her dismissed after she allegedly backed out of a deal for a game she had agreed to make with studio Gate Five in 2010, causing the studio financial loss.

The musician is facing a $100 million lawsuit from Gate Five, who allege that in December 2010 she abandoned the project that was going to be called Starpower: Beyoncé – a motion-controlled dancing game based on her music and dance moves – without notice. The deal was valued at $20 million and, according to the New York Daily News, only days before the final contracts were to be signed, Beyoncé's lawyers informed Gate Five that she would not longer be taking part because an old financing deadline supposedly had not been met.

Gate Five claims that Beyoncé was aware that the studio was meeting with its financier only days later to secure additional funding, but she walked out on the project anyway. As a result, the game was canceled, resulting in the layoffs of 70 employees and the loss of potentially millions of dollars in game sales.

The studio brought a lawsuit against the singer and is seeking $6.7 million in compensation for what it invested in the game's development and a further $100 million in damages. Beyoncé's lawyers, who say that she had every right to walk out on the project because it failed to secure financing before the established deadline, filed for a motion of summary judgment (a written request for judgment in the moving party's favor before a case goes to trial, which can result in the judge deciding on some causes of action and leaving little to be tried), but this was denied.

The failure to appeal the judgment means that the case will likely go to trial in front of a jury.