Wii U physical version of Axiom Verge finally gets release, dev begins lawsuit against publisher

axiom_verge_wii_u.jpeg

Axiom Verge originally released for the Wii U on the Nintendo eShop all the way back in 2016, with the announcement of a physical edition made the following year, courtesy of Limited Run Games and BadLand Games. More than two years later, and that retail version still hasn't been released, due to a controversy involving Tom Happ, the developer, and the two aforementioned publishers. Initially, BadLand was supposed to be in charge of getting the game released on physical media, while Limited Run Games would help by funding the bulk of it, to be repaid at a later date.

Dan Adelman, producer of Axiom Verge, claimed that he and Tom Happ had chosen BadLand Games as their publisher because the company's CEO promised to donate a portion of their revenue to a fund for Happ's son, who has a medical condition. "In addition to matching what other publishers were offering in terms of rev share, they said they’d contribute 75% of their cut to a trust fund set up for Alastair Happ’s ongoing medical expenses," said Adelman regarding the matter on Twitter.

Once Limited Run Games provided BadLand with the needed $78,000 for manufacturing, the latter never responded back, nor did they provide the physical copies. This was hinted at back in October, where we saw Limited Run announce that despite hardships involved with publishing, they would be loyally bringing a physical title to the Wii U, even though they would be losing money in the process. After this, in December 2018, LRG entered a legal battle, where the courts demanded that BadLand repay the owed money. However, to this day, they have not been paid back in full.

If that wasn't bad enough, BadLand published the game in Europe as well, and ended up not paying Happ his sales money, either. In the continuing Twitter chain, Adelman stated, "It's frustrating to see BadLand Publishing tweet about new games they're releasing, no doubt funded with the money they owe LRG and Tom Happ. BadLand has literally stolen money from a disabled toddler."

Both Adelman and Happ have filed a lawsuit against BadLand, claiming that they owe the two around $200,000 for unpaid sales and other costs. It's not known how legal proceedings will occur, as BadLand still hasn't repaid their total towards Limited Run Games, as well as the fact that they are based in Spain. BadLand Games also went out of business in Oct. 2018, though their subsidiary, BadLand Publishing still operates, and has money to publish titles. Although they are under a different name, they are still responsible for paying back Limited Run Games.

Outside of the drama involved, Axiom Verge for the Nintendo Wii U will be released on March 29th and will be sold on the Limited Run Games site.

:arrow: Limited Run Games Site
:arrow: Source
 

godreborn

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I bought this game on the switch. iI've tried to like it, but I''m on the fence about that one. it's just too confusing.
 

Kraken_X

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I don't have all the facts, so I'll wait for the conclusion of the lawsuit. I don't doubt that some financial manipulation is at play, but I do seriously doubt that BadLand is exclusively staffed by comically villainous people who steal money from sick children, there has to be more to this story than what we're being told. They promised Happ the usual developer's cut plus 75% of *their* cut towards Happ's son's medical expenses via a foundation? That sounds overly complicated, and overly generous. They had no reason to do this in such a roundabout way, they could've just paid Happ more, unless it was intended as a good PR move, which it clearly wasn't as they didn't hold their end of the bargain. The whole case is very weird, they look like complete assholes and it baffles me why they would even withhold funds - it's a large bulk sum, but if they paid it on time it's not that much money for a publisher. I hope a judge can clear all of this up and I feel bad for Happ and Adelman, they're small-time developers and the money they claim they're owed would make a big difference in their life, especially in the case of Mr.Happ. I guess this will be a lesson for the future - if a contract seems fishy or too good to be true, it probably isn't true.

Ah, so they've effectively shut their doors and re-opened as a new company due to monetary issues caused by one of their lenders. This makes more sense now, I can understand why they would put one game on the back-burner to save their company. It certainly sounds more plausible than them just randomly choosing to be the worst publisher imaginable.

The 75% of BadLand's cut going to a foundation was almost certainly for a tax writeoff. Corporations are allowed to deduct charitable donations from their taxes, so they could deduct the funds they sent to the foundation, but not extra money that they paid directly to Happ, which would be a normal operating expense.
 

luisedgarf

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All I'm saying is that I see two very different stories about how this went down, and one of them seems more plausible than the other - I would like to think that this wasn't caused by malice and rather by a difficult situation that was unexpected and needed to take priority. That of course doesn't affect liability - a contract is a contract, and even under a different name, there is a good chance that the successor company inherited not only the publishing rights, but also the obligations and all outstanding debt, which they seem to admit is the case.

Spanish speaker here. I don't know Spain's laws and I don't know if this is the same case as I'm Mexican; but Mexico, Spain and many Latin American countries shares more or less a similar legal framework, as Spain likely use the Napoleonic and Roman Law, while the developer is from an English-speaking country, and as such, he use the Common Law.

In Mexico, at least (I don't know if is the same case in Spain) you can unilaterally break a contract if you have a very valid reason for doing so (a fact that can be exploited by many unscrupolous companies many times, at least here in my country) without many consecuences, unlike a company from a Common Law country, when doing the same could bring dire consecuences to them.

This is one of the reasons why American individuals are always compeled on doing contracts when all the parts are obliged to follow American laws, so they cannot pull it down this.
 
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Foxi4

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The 75% of BadLand's cut going to a foundation was almost certainly for a tax writeoff. Corporations are allowed to deduct charitable donations from their taxes, so they could deduct the funds they sent to the foundation, but not extra money that they paid directly to Happ, which would be a normal operating expense.
That's not how taxation works. Companies don't magically get tax write-offs, the way it works is that a company doesn't have to pay tax on the amount donated. They're still donating the money, they're not "ahead" in any way, it's the government that gets a little less tax. If they donate a 100k that normally would be subject to the standard corporate tax rate, let's say 20%, then they don't have to pay that 20% of that 100k, meaning 20k. No company in the world donates 100k to save 20k, these donations fall into charitable work perfectly fine and are not a way of avoiding taxation, the tax system simply encourages corporations to engage in charity by not penalising them with a tax on revenue donated to a worthy cause. That's the basic premise, naturally there are some differences depending on your location, and there are upper limits on how large the deductible can be, but the general point is the company doesn't really save any money by being charitable.
I'd like to think companies wouldn't in the name of self preservation do things like shuffle a lot of money around in questionable ways to stay afloat, avoid paying owed debts when they could, avoid contact with people/companies to drag out when that debt is owed, try to pay in smaller amounts without interest, etc. See, it doesn't inherently take malice when you invoke self preservation, but the effect can be the same. That's a major reason lawsuits do exist--it's not enough for each individual to argue their own position to justify their action without consideration of their implicit or explicit obligations to others.

Having said all that, "more plausible" isn't really much of an argument. Relatively implausible stuff happens all the time.
I tend to apply Occam's Razor to most things.

Spanish speaker here. I don't know Spain's laws and I don't know if this is the same case as I'm Mexican; but Mexico, Spain and many Latin American countries shares more or less a similar legal framework, as Spain likely use the Napoleonic and Roman Law, while the developer is from an English-speaking country, and as such, he use the Common Law.

In Mexico, at least (I don't know if is the same case in Spain) you can unilaterally break a contract if you have a very valid reason for doing so (a fact that can be exploited by many unscrupolous companies many times, at least here in my country) without many consecuences, unlike a company from a Common Law country, when doing the same could bring dire consecuences to them.

This is one of the reasons why American individuals are always compeled on doing contracts when all the parts are obliged to follow American laws, so they cannot pull it down this.
That's what contract law is for, the legal system is well-equipped to deal with business, in many cases more so than with civil disputes.
 

FAST6191

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Will this become one of the super rare titles for the Wii U? Niche releases after the system has finished (especially when it also failed) tend to become such.
 

Kraken_X

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That's not how taxation works. Companies don't magically get tax write-offs, the way it works is that a company doesn't have to pay tax on the amount donated. They're still donating the money, they're not "ahead" in any way, it's the government that gets a little less tax. If they donate a 100k that normally would be subject to the standard corporate tax rate, let's say 20%, then they don't have to pay that 20% of that 100k, meaning 20k. No company in the world donates 100k to save 20k, these donations fall into charitable work perfectly fine and are not a way of avoiding taxation, the tax system simply encourages corporations to engage in charity by not penalising them with a tax on revenue donated to a worthy cause. That's the basic premise, naturally there are some differences depending on your location, and there are upper limits on how large the deductible can be, but the general point is the company doesn't really save any money by being charitable.

That is all correct, but my point is that if Badlands paid 100k to a charity it would only cost them 80k because they can deduct it from their taxes, whereas if they paid Happ the 100k directly, they couldn't deduct it. Badlands ends up 20k ahead and Happ would have gotten the same amount of money.

Obviously the numbers are different and Badlands didn't honor their side of the deal, but that's almost certainly why they planned to set up the foundation and donate to it rather than just paying Happ more.
 
Last edited by Kraken_X,

Foxi4

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That is all correct, but my point is that if Badlands paid 100k to a charity it would only cost them 80k because they can deduct it from their taxes, whereas if they paid Happ the 100k directly, they couldn't deduct it. Badlands ends up 20k ahead and Happ would have gotten the same amount of money.

Obviously the numbers are different and Badlands didn't honor their side of the deal, but that's almost certainly why they planned to set up the foundation and donate to it rather than just paying Happ more.
I see your point now, I misunderstood. You are correct, and it would also leave Happ with the operational cost of the foundation.
 

Captain_N

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Im ordering me a copy. I have the switch version. This wii U version is gonna be super rare. Might even be more rare then a wiiu kiosk. I might order 2 copies.
 

fst312

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Personally I hope for more Wii U titles, the Wii U is the real hybrid system not the switch. The switch is just a handheld system to me, while the Wii U although just a console, I look at it as both console and handheld. I liked how the gamepad actually needed to be used for games and wasn’t just a second screen. I just felt the Wii U gamepad was like a touchscreen like the ds and the top screen was the tv.
 

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