This reeks of the same thing Discovery did when it took control of WB’s television and movie production, they canned completed projects, canceled upcoming stuff, and had TV shows like “Final Space” that were out for years erased, all so they could claim a tax break and pocket those billions. What a bunch of frelling bastards.
How does a tax break work here? Do they claim lost potential profits (as the games are no longer available) or lost the franchise or what?
I think it’s more they don’t want to pay to upkeep them.
Owen Dreery told arstechnica…
“Even if a game is making no sales they still need to track those numbers, send sales reports to developers, generate international taxation documents for Canadians like me… etc. And who at WB is going to defend these indie games? Adult Swim Games is gone. To me it’s as simple as ‘Let’s get rid of these niche products made by people who no longer work here which I don’t care about.’”
ELI5 - Have these devs completely signed over their rights to the game to WB?
What would be the repercussions of just open sourcing or putting it on steam themselves?
Why can’t they switch publishers if this one clearly isn’t doing their job and is removing their game from storefronts. I mean, that’s their job right, to put the game in front of as many people as possible?
Sounds like they need a class action lawsuit from all the developers.
They gave their rights to the game to another company based on the Assumption that they would get continual residuals from the sale because the Company would be acting as a distributor.
Depending on how the contract is phrased might not be breach. But God damn that deserves to be taking a court over it.
Edit: I assumed residuals were a thing in the game. Publishing industry. Apparently they’re not. If you work for a company, you get a salary. If you put your heart and soul into a game, you don’t get anything but your salary.
Sounds like they need a class action lawsuit from all the developers.
I’m not a lawyer but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of a “class action lawsuit” involving multiple business who each had their own lawyers negotiate individual publishing contracts with potentially wildly different terms.
Each development contract is different but they usually follow the same rough structure. The publisher puts up the money for the development of the game. The developers code and make the game. When they are done they give the finished product to the publisher who markets and arranges distribution.
The publisher most likely owns the rights to the game so selling it outside of WB isn’t legal, which stops Steam and most reputable stores. The devs are watching years of their lives being swept under the rug and probably deleted if no one has a copy of the game. WB has not said anything about relisting any games so it’s very possible their work is being deleted forever. They have put in months of crunch to meet a deadline, sacrificed relationships and events to ensure their contributions to the game with the belief the game would be as good as it was going to be. Now it means nothing because the game is going away.
It’s incredibly disrespectful to the time, talent, and energy the developers have put into the game and should sour devs from working for other publishers who do the same. However, shovelware exists because some devs just want a paycheck, so this will probably not stop cut throat devs from making a minimum viable product by a deadline.
Ultimately this is the world we live in: the money owns the rights and so makes the decisions that others have to live by. If you are upset by this, think of a new way to do it and try it out. Be the change.
They did talk about relisting games, in that they aren’t gonna do it.
Thanks for the explanation. As a developer myself I’ve experienced startups failing, projects getting deprioritized, but I’ve never worked in the gaming industry. I know how crushing it is in those scenarios, and this sounds worse. WB is throwing it away not because they’re out of money but because they don’t even care about it anymore.
I hope this means developers won’t trust WB with their games anymore, or refuse to work for them. I know if I was burned that badly I wouldn’t go back to work for them.
sacrificed relationships and events to ensure their contributions
Never do that. It’s not worth it.
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