Software distributor Soft-World International, the largest in the Chinese market, has filed a lawsuit worth US$3.78 against popular games-maker Square-Enix. Demanding the return of a royalty payment, Soft-World alleges that Square-Enix failed to fulfill its obligation as stipulated in a 2004 contract regarding the distribution of one of the latter's MMORPGs in Taiwan, Macau, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong.

According to the contract, Square-Enix was supposed to supply the company with the relevant source code for the MMORPG. Having failed to do so, the distribution of the game became problematic, thereby incurring losses for Soft-World.

Soft-World International currently handles Chinese language versions of popular MMO's RF Online, WoW and Ragnarok Online amongst others. Square-Enix, on the other hand, is a  Japanese producer of video games and manga, and is best known for its console role-playing game franchises, including the Final Fantasy series and the Dragon Quest series.

Square-Enix is yet to issue a comment regarding the lawsuit as of press time.