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General discussion (archive)How Topware screwed an indie studio(87 posts)(87 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted November 21, 2014
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rtcvb32: Ouch... just... ouch...

Oral agreements should probably only be made on a one-on-one level, usually something like 'buy this for me and i'll get you dinner tomorrow night' type of thing. For anything that is a financial stakes or a larger company, you want a written contract... Although it doesn't help the person who had the oral contract got fired for some reason.

But still for them to blatantly invalidate a contract and try to hold it up in court...?

I hold slightly less faith in corporations now; And although i give kudos to steam for trying to help the dev team from the publisher's insane actions, i can't help but feel sad :(
If you can still add custom tags, i'd add a tag, something like #OMG_TOPWARE_PUBLISHER_SCREWING_DEVS_DONT_BUY, it would get the message out and either be filtered out as spam or someone curious enough would do a search and find the article in question.

I wouldn't put negative reviews on games just because Topware is the publisher. But i would definitely want to do something...

Hmmm i say contact (on Youtube) TotalBiscuit and Rich at ReviewTechUSA (he also has a Facebook page), enough people watch them that it would definitely reach a lot more people. I also keep watch of AlphaOmegaSin.
I sent a message to "Jim Fucking Sterling, son" as this kind of thing is right up his alley.
Posted November 21, 2014
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paladin181: I sent a message to "Jim Fucking Sterling, son" as this kind of thing is right up his alley.
The escapist?

Anyways i hope things blow over and the devs make it out okay...
Posted November 21, 2014
He's not with the Escapist any longer. Got tired of the corporate schilling direction things were headed toward.
Posted November 21, 2014
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HereForTheBeer: Before putting Topware in the hangman's noose of public opinion, any verification of the court cases and such? This is a bit one-sided for now, and retractions are all-but-pointless once the damage is done.
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Magnitus: The article seemed pretty genuine and flow of events (Steam cancellation, litigations) check out.

It's also on their official blog so it's not just some shmo who impersonated them.

And finally, the timeline on their blog (been talking about this for over a year) indicate that this isn't a knee-jerk last minute idea.

I'd dub this one very likely.
I agree that it's likely, but... dunno. I'm thinking verification before vilification.



If it went down as the blog describes, I do hope those guys are able to get at least a part of what they've earned. Gonna be tough with bankruptcy in the picture.
Posted November 21, 2014
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jamotide: But if topware is now insolvent, they can probably only get a fraction of their earnings from the liquidation...
At least they would get their game back.
Posted November 21, 2014
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mobutu: At least they would get their game back.
At least...

Maybe with Valve's help they could recoup from the customers. What i'm thinking is a very simple DLC, something like 'Dev's Gold Award' which Valve would agree not to take any money from it and instead give all to the Devs. The DLC wouldn't really add content, but then it would be an optional buy/download that on the first time it starts the Dev team personally thanks the customer for supporting them. Naturally the DLC would probably be in 3 teirs, $1, $3 and $5. Of course the copies would be limited to the number of copies on steam, or equal to the amount Valve made in profit from that game.

And of course later the DLC could be updated to include something special for people who were sympathetic for the Dev team, maybe something nice like an alternate ending, bonus comics, or something that doesn't make the game unfair; Or a secret area, much like Chrono Triggers's hardest ending which the programmers congratulate you...

Kickstarter wouldn't work... Maybe Pantheon donations... I don't know. I'm sure they aren't asking for handouts but they do want to see some money for their work.
Posted November 21, 2014
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rtcvb32: And of course later the DLC could be updated to include something special for people who were sympathetic for the Dev team, maybe something nice like an alternate ending, bonus comics, or something that doesn't make the game unfair; Or a secret area, much like Chrono Triggers's hardest ending which the programmers congratulate you...
They could just do what a lot of other smaller games do on Steam and sell the soundtrack separately for $5-10. Assuming that Topware didn't already do that, it might give an incentive for people who already have the game to throw a bit more money at it which would go to the devs once Topware is out of the picture. And they might get a little extra from new customers too. Even during a Steam sale, people might get interested in the game at the sale price but then decide to spend an extra dollar or two on it to get the soundtrack too.
Posted November 21, 2014
The slow court proceedings being exploited by scumbags like Topware or Valve is nothing new, unfortunately.

Still, at least in this article, the Alkemi guys are a bit too harsh on the legal system. Topware giving them some reports at all was due to the court ruling in their favour, and the case not being resolved yet is because of Topware appealing the judge's ruling. This is what I got out of an earlier French article. The frustration is understandable given their situation and emotional investment, of course. Still, doesn't look like justice is ignoring them at all, but Topware is impeding the legal process as good as they can.

With Topware's history I'm inclined to buy the dev's side of the story, even if it feels like something's missing. The article makes it sound like they did everything by themselves, so why did they go to a publisher in the first place?
Posted November 21, 2014
So, Gamasutra has "upped" the article on the homepage under the title "Our publisher ripped us off. What now?" so it will have more views. I also got in touch with some french journalist (as the Alkemi studio is French) about it.
Posted November 29, 2014
Just a small reminder that this wishlist entry exists: www.gog.com/wishlist/site/take_topware_interactive_games_off_gog
Post edited November 29, 2014 by Mrstarker
Posted November 29, 2014
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Mrstarker: Just a small reminder that this wishlist entry exists: www.gog.com/wishlist/site/take_topware_interactive_games_off_gog
Turns out the CEO of TW is a director of Reality Pump....mad disappointed cos I loved 2 worlds series.
Posted November 29, 2014
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Getcomposted: Thinking of boycotting Topware games right now.
Thinking of!?
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Crosmando: I mean how many years has it been since TopWare have even published a game?
Hey, who needs to actually publish new games when you can just scam some unsuspecting indie developers?
Post edited November 29, 2014 by SirPrimalform
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This is my favourite topic
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General discussion (archive)How Topware screwed an indie studio(87 posts)(87 posts)
(87 posts)