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.

Limited Run Games Site
Source

 

[Reploid]

What an ungrateful developer would sue it's own publisher?

 

[Chary]

What an ungrateful developer would sue it's own publisher?

I think this is a case of not reading the OP...or heavy undetectable sarcasm.

BadLand Publishing has done more than enough to warrant the lawsuit. They stole money, used it to fund other games, refused to pay sales revenue owed, and went back on their contract to pay the dev's sickly kid. It also really shows how good of a publisher Limited Run Games is, having helped get the game released despite losing money on the deal.

 

[Bimmel]

What an ungrateful developer would sue it's own publisher?

This was also my First thought, reading the title.

After reading: What Chary said.

This is just sad.

 

[Dr.Hacknik]

This is actually sad. I hope the son actually got the appropriate amount of money for said medical expenses.

 

[Bladexdsl]

welp better late than never!

 

[Idontknowwhattoputhere]

Why not port this to the switch?

 

[Glyptofane]

Why not port this to the switch?

It's already on Switch both digitally and physically. Great game too!

 

[Idontknowwhattoputhere]

It's already on Switch both digitally and physically. Great game too!

Never noticed
Might try it sometime

 

[jumpman17]

There are a lot more details about this situation here:
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-03-15-the-high-cost-of-a-wii-u-retail-release

 

[Foxi4]

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.

There are a lot more details about this situation here:
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-03-15-the-high-cost-of-a-wii-u-retail-release

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.

 

[Reecey]

I’m going to grab a copy out of respect for his poor child! Certainly! I wish him well very sad news indeed.

 

[bjaxx87]

I wonder what will happen to my pre-order (at amazon.es)...

btw: Called it!

 

[leon315]

I bought switch version, i glad i support dev.

 

[Hephaestus]

Who WOULDN'T steal from a disabled toddler?
I mean... come on. Its so easy!

 

[kuwanger]

I do seriously doubt that BadLand is exclusively staffed by comically villainous people who steal money from sick children

While I can't speak to BadLand and what it has/hasn't done, the truth is "comically villainous people" don't go around steal money from sick children. Monsters do. There's plenty of monsters outside of comics--much more so than in comics (at least by raw numbers). So, yea, withholding my judgement as well but not throwing in some preconceived conceptions of just how evil people will be.

 

[Foxi4]

While I can't speak to BadLand and what it has/hasn't done, the truth is "comically villainous people" don't go around steal money from sick children. Monsters do. There's plenty of monsters outside of comics--much more so than in comics (at least by raw numbers). So, yea, withholding my judgement as well but not throwing in some preconceived conceptions of just how evil people will be.

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.

 

[pedro702]

got switch version which is far superior due to handheld 720p screen at least and 1080p on tv so no reason to waste money on wiiu version unless you want a full wiiu collection imo.

 

[kuwanger]

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.

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.

 

[huma_dawii]

I hope I get to buy one. This and Fatal Frame and Fast Racing Neo I wanted as retail and never happened :'(