Ammobox Studios Launches GoFundMe Campaign For Legal Battle Against Rogue Publisher
Early in January of this year, something very strange happened to Eximius: Seize The Frontline on Steam. Users who opened the Steam store page for this unique first person shooter / real-time strategy hybrid found that the game could no longer be purchased. It turned out that the reason for this was that the developers of the game, Ammobox Studios, were forced to issue a DMCA Notice to their own game. In a post on the Steam community hub for their game they explained that they were forced to take this drastic action due to the actions of their publisher. According to Ammobox Studios, TheGameWallStudios, who published the game, has gone off the grid completely along with all the money made from the sale of the game. Along with the stolen revenue, the rogue publisher also cost the developers potential revenue as they did not fulfill any of the marketing work that they promised.
The Steam store page for the game was temporarily disabled because the publisher still owned the Steam application rights and had full access to it. However, more than a week after the announcement was made, Ammobox Studios managed to gain back access to the page and the game has been available to purchase since then. The latest update in this situation is the announcement by Ammobox that they are launching a GoFundMe campaign to try and secure the funds needed for legal assistance in the matter. In order to gain the legal representation that they need, they are seeking $25, 000 USD. Anything that campaign brings in over this amount will be used for helping the development team or turned into charitable donations.
Fans who want to support Ammobox Studios can head over to their GoFundMe page as they still have a long way to go before reaching their goal. According to Jeremy Choo from Ammobox Studios, it has understandably been a difficult time for the team, but they have also received a lot of support from the community as well as members of the games industry. Check out the recent post by Choo on Gamasutra for more information about this story and be sure to follow Ammobox Studios on Twitter or Facebook. Those who are interested in Eximius: Seize the Frontline, which is currently in Early Access on Steam, can head over to the store page. The game currently has a “Mostly Positive” review rating on Steam with a lot of the reviewers stating how much potential it has.
Even if you don’t have the funds to assist Ammobox Studios or the game isn’t your cup of tea, just helping to spread awareness about this issue can already help to deter unscrupulous publishers from pulling this kind of stunt in the future. The amount of new releases hitting the market already makes it difficult for developers to gain visibility, so having to deal with shady publishers on top of that is the last thing that this industry needs.
Lettuceprey February 1, 2019
Wow, how does a developer even get away with something like that in this day and age. I don’t understand why this even needs to become a legal battle, seems to me to be a clear case of criminal intent. Surely reporting them to the police will be more effective and less expensive or how do these things work?
Mangojones February 1, 2019
Any word on how much the publisher actually made off with? It might be more profitable to just cut their losses and chalk this up to a learning experience instead of getting involved in a long, costly legal battle. Either way, as long as it doesn’t take time and resources away from the actual development of the game I wish them luck. I would like to see more Early Access titles actually deliver on what they promise.