Update [Wed 24th Aug, 2022 16:35 BST]: PQube Games has provided us with the following statement responding to Toge Productions' Twitter post:
“We have honoured all obligations of our publishing agreement and have supported Toge Productions at every stage of product development throughout their delays and difficulties. This support has included offering significant further funding, over and above grant funding, to support development, porting and marketing. Toge Productions have sought for some time to unilaterally enforce unreasonable revised terms to our agreement and it is disappointing that, as a result of not achieving that and despite PQube's significant efforts to accommodate this, they have sought to deal with the matter in this way. We will respond through the appropriate channels".
Original story below...
Toge Productions and Mojiken Studios have announced that their gorgeous pixel art adventure game A Space for the Unbound has been delayed on consoles "until further notice" due to issues with the game's western publisher, PQube Games.
The Indonesian-based companies have accused PQube Games of using their position and Indonesian heritage "to obtain a diversity fund from a well-known console platform" which is a grant that's meant to help out underrepresented game developers. This was set up during the pandemic. However, Toge and Mojiken state that PQube "withheld information about the grant and used it as a leverage for their own commercial gain".
PQube is reportedly refusing to hand back console publishing rights to the developers, so Mojiken has made the decision to withhold the console release while it "attempts to make new arrangements".
Here is Toge Productions and Mojiken Studios' statement in full from Twitter:
Dear space divers,
We are sad to announce that we will be delaying the release of A Space for the Unbound until further notice.
Earlier this year we discovered that PQube Games, a United Kingdom-based publisher that we signed for the console publishing of A Space for the Unbound for western regions had done certain things which have left us feeling manipulated and exploited, and so we have had to terminate our agreement with them.
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in August 2020, PQube Games used our position and heritage as developers from Indonesia to obtain a diversity fund from a well-known console platform. The diversity fund was a grant fund intended to help underrepresented game developers, especially during the pandemic. However, instead of giving those funds to the developers as the grant was intended, PQube Games intentionally withheld information about the grant and used it as a leverage for their own commercial gain. Rather than paying the grant money to us, PQube Games hid the facts about the grant’s award and added it as a recoupable minimum guarantee, and then used it to negotiate the increase of their revenue share. We have only uncovered the true amount of these funds and their intended purposes in March 2022.
We are absolutely heartbroken that a party we worked with would do this and a project we have worked on for seven years has been taken advantage of in such a way. Since the uncovering of this issue, we clearly cannot trust PQube Games nor continue to work together for the release of A Space for the Unbound as PQube Games has fallen considerably short not only of reasonable decency, but also of their obligations to us due to these predatory practices.
We have to make a stand against exploitative publishers and speak up about this to stop things like this from happening again in the future. Thus, we are also announcing that we have terminated our contract with PQube Games.
As of this moment, PQube Games is still refusing to hand over publishing control on console platforms back to us. It is with a heavy heart that we must hold back the release of A Space for the Unbound so that we can make new arrangements and ensure that it is published as intended and in a way that is consistent with our and our community’s values.
Signed,
Toge Productions and Mojiken Studio
A Space for the Unbound was due out on Switch sometime this year. You can find out more about the game below:
- Further reading - 'A Space For The Unbound' Brings Mysteries And Self-Discovery To Switch
We'll update you as soon as we hear more about a new western release or publisher.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 36
I would be interested to know the publishers side of the story, these things are rarely as black and white as indie developers often make them out to be.
PQube Games again... Sigh They even cannot finish their Breakers Collection, that was delayed twice and still don't have release date for it...
Sounds like greed on the developers part. This game I guess probably won't come out at all now for Switch.
Fair play to them speaking out and its a shame for the release being stopped indefinately, but I do want to hear the other side of the story and why others havent spoken out about this?
Did you contact PQube for their side of the story or are you comfortable just printing a smear without any questions?
Government-sponsored racial preferences, what could go wrong?
@FantasiaWHT right… because it’s not like racial issues haven’t been a long-standing issue in the world. Regardless if true the gov had nothing to do with this publisher’s greed.
@FantasiaWHT according to the article it was from one of the console brands not a govt program. So like MS or Sony. Smart really. They can market themselves as diverse while doing nothing. Even social engineering is being farmed out to 3rd parties.
Nintendo Life should reach out to the publisher for comment to give them a chance to defend these allegations. If they don’t respond then they’re probably guilty
@Sonos You expect NLife to do that? What are they, games journalists?
In 7 years time, PQube probably paid some milestone advantages. I expect PQube to demand their investment back before any publishing rights are being transferred.
So Mojiken Studios is looking for a new publisher. I hope they find one, as this game looks unique and promising. Plus I really would like to see a rising support for the Indonesian gamedev community.
Weird that the comments section is jumping to defend the publisher. I've seen this scenario plenty of times, especially with U.S COVID Paycheck Protection grants. Companies accept paycheck protection grant (Intended to keep employees on staff and paid 40 hrs) then lay folks off and/or cut their hours. Pocket the cash. Same with the other Business loans, accept the money and just pocket it, let it get written off. This story is totally believable, sure hearing what the publisher has to say is fine but dang, remove the boot. They aren't your friends.
@Eeros couldn't agree more these kinda developers runs what's called sweatshops and pockets the money. Does anyone think they are your friends. If so please identify yourself for us your Real name and location to prove otherwise.
@Eeros it's pure sycophancy
@GhostDaddy Sounds like a greedy publisher, not greedy developer. But I suppose it would be fair to wait and hear what PQube has to say about it.
There has been so much abuse of funds designed to help people during the pandemic that this isn’t surprising anymore.
Edit: this is a general comment and not taking either side since there isn’t enough information. Just acknowledging that funds keep getting misused/accepted falsely.
@Eeros I cant speak for anyone but me - for me making the claim that you withheld money, or stole money or are using someone's ethnic background for a paycheck is a very bold one. One that at least deserves a follow up question. The source here is Twitter for god's sake. Not reliable in any scenario. The entire thing reads like a high school rant to slutshame the cheerleader who stole your boyfriend.
Bizarre that people are leaping to the defence of PQube. It benefits literally nobody to go public with this, so clearly the devs felt it was necessary.
@DiamondJim We already have reached out to the publisher. We'll update the article with any response they provide.
@GhostDaddy greedy publisher you mean. Withholding money meant for others is greed.
@Eeros This site's comments sections always get filled up with people licking publishers' boots and decrying anyone who has any problem with their boss for any reason. It's gross but it happens every time.
@SwitchForce the developers are the ones making the accusations against the publishing company.
@Sonos I mean, its their official statement...on twitter. Not just one of the Devs personal twitter account just making random comments with no word from the whole Dev team. Its a PR statement. Do you want them to mail you a personal signed letter to your house? Most all companies/projects have social media accounts where they post their PR notices.
@jcboyer515 I'm not saying that you shouldn't be asking for the whole story before passing judgement on something. I'm just shaking my head that people think that companies are their friends and jumping immediately to their defense. That they and won't try every and any trick in the book to make a buck, right or wrong. Facts or not, corporations are not your friends, they aren't your buddy, pal, funny twitter user BFF. They won't give you anything for defending them on nintendolife or twitter.com. That's mostly what I'm getting at here. No need to grovel at their feet, just come out and say "Can we get more information from the publisher?"
That's a shame. I've got one or two games from them, and had my eye on a couple more, but I guess I'll wait and see how this shakes out before buying anything. Misusing funds from any kind of charitable program is about as low as it gets.
@Eeros OTOH corporations are made of people and are not automatically the villain just because they are a corporation. Individual human greed causes corruption and devs aren’t working for free either. An individual isn’t automatically right just because they are smaller than a corporation. Blindly supporting an individual is just as bad as blindly supporting a corporation. As such we should have as much info as possible before supporting either side.
some sort of feeling when after what happened with similar companies like nicalis, dangen, and chucklefish, people still jump to the side of the company
@Ryu_Niiyama People do things on behalf of companies all the time. Yes Individuals make decisions, but that doesn't mean it isn't a decision that the company as a whole makes. Business moves are business moves. I'm not saying don't request further information. Information has been requested by NL staff and other games journalists already with no word. See what the publisher says and make your decisions based on that.
I hope this doesn't make people stop buying PQubes games, after all, they are just a publisher, so that would be actually hurting the indie studios.
@jcboyer515 It sounds like we don't see quite eye to eye despite facing the same direction. I see their comments more of "Yeah BUT-" rather than. "I want to hear what the other side has to say before making my judgement." Just the vibes i'm getting. People can be wrong, people can be right. Corps can be good, corps can be bad. I myself am more apt to believe developers who said they are wronged vs the publisher, who from my view has more power in this dynamic. Everyone's free to develop their own opinions though.
I tried the game demo on steam, it's a pretty good game, and I like the setting since it's so unique. I hope the developer and publisher can sort of their difference since I want to play this on console rather than pc.
People seem to assume that being an indie developer means you can't be as greedy and underhanded as a corporation and unfortunately some indie studios like to leverage that.
@jcboyer515 You said you went out of your way to agree with me, so I mean. Then we are in agreement? ¯(ツ)/¯ Whatever the case may be, take care I hope you have a good rest of your day.
@jcboyer515 ¯(ツ)/¯ Have a good rest of your day? Its fine man we don't have to agree/disagree.
the publisher isnt going to see you defending them guys, its okay
Hmm, well, I'm still going to buy PQube published games probably, if they are games I really want.
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