contracts, different countries, problems to get money, experienc
by Alexander Bierbrauer · in General Discussion · 03/18/2001 (6:19 am) · 5 replies
Last year, we released our first commercial game, Gunocide2. We were looking for a german publisher but we didn't found one who wanted to publish it. Then we found GarageDeveloper(.com) and they wanted it. At this time everything was going well but now after 8 months we see that GarageDeveloper are really bad. We should receive every 4 months a check but we didn't receive one until now. We know that we sold many copies but don't know the exact amount(we only got some rare information about this from GD).
We have written a lot of emails to them like :"What's going on...", "Where's our money..",".....or we consult our lawyer" and so on. But we have no chance against them because they sit in Amercia and we in Germany. Canceling the contract is a problem too because they don't reply no more to our mails.
Activating our laywer for this case is also one more problem because we don't know if it's worth the money(we don't know how much money we will get from GD...).
What I wanted to say is: Be carefull with selecting your publisher. First of all if your are not in the same country.
GarageGames seems to be a very good choice because they really do something for 'us'(the ind. devs.) They are also not no names like GD.
By the way, this community system is very cool! :)
We have written a lot of emails to them like :"What's going on...", "Where's our money..",".....or we consult our lawyer" and so on. But we have no chance against them because they sit in Amercia and we in Germany. Canceling the contract is a problem too because they don't reply no more to our mails.
Activating our laywer for this case is also one more problem because we don't know if it's worth the money(we don't know how much money we will get from GD...).
What I wanted to say is: Be carefull with selecting your publisher. First of all if your are not in the same country.
GarageGames seems to be a very good choice because they really do something for 'us'(the ind. devs.) They are also not no names like GD.
By the way, this community system is very cool! :)
#2
I also read over the publishing agreement they have online. I don't even know if this thing is valid. They have two options, one for exclusive publishing rights, and one for non-exclusive rights. However the section for exclusive rights only ever states that the deal you are making is non-exclusive.
Either way it seems to me that you would be able to get your game published at another publishing company and garagedevelopers wouldn't be able to do anything about it.
Alc
11/01/2001 (8:30 am)
I looked through the garagedevelopers web site and the only other game company that I could tell that published with them was GLIPS entertainment Inc.. You should get in contact with them to see how their dealings with garagedevelopers are going.I also read over the publishing agreement they have online. I don't even know if this thing is valid. They have two options, one for exclusive publishing rights, and one for non-exclusive rights. However the section for exclusive rights only ever states that the deal you are making is non-exclusive.
Either way it seems to me that you would be able to get your game published at another publishing company and garagedevelopers wouldn't be able to do anything about it.
Alc
#3
11/02/2001 (12:56 pm)
all issues were resolved back in July 2001.
#5
Alexander, what you are doing is probably the best thing to do. Get word out and let people know.
I wish someone had a rating system for game publishers. Probly be a good idea for GG to offer to it's members. A section where you can rate game publishers and post good things and bad things. Call it a Better Business Bureau for Game Publishers. Probly make money by getting with game publishers and they pay you money to be listed on the site. (just like the BBB does it in real world, They charge a business 100 dollars and that business gets a sticker that says they belong to the BBB)
Heck you could do it for all online businesses. If I wasn't so tied up into my game I'd do it and make $$$ and then retire to A Naked Island.
And I do have to hand it to GG. Even though I plan on using a different engine for my game. I will seriously look into the Torque engine for my second one because of their support and genuine offer of help. (plus it will be 100% finished by then hopefully. LOL)
Muchos Kudos to the GG Team.
11/02/2001 (5:13 pm)
Hmm, that sounded like a manager response to a non-manager type question. Alexander, what you are doing is probably the best thing to do. Get word out and let people know.
I wish someone had a rating system for game publishers. Probly be a good idea for GG to offer to it's members. A section where you can rate game publishers and post good things and bad things. Call it a Better Business Bureau for Game Publishers. Probly make money by getting with game publishers and they pay you money to be listed on the site. (just like the BBB does it in real world, They charge a business 100 dollars and that business gets a sticker that says they belong to the BBB)
Heck you could do it for all online businesses. If I wasn't so tied up into my game I'd do it and make $$$ and then retire to A Naked Island.
And I do have to hand it to GG. Even though I plan on using a different engine for my game. I will seriously look into the Torque engine for my second one because of their support and genuine offer of help. (plus it will be 100% finished by then hopefully. LOL)
Muchos Kudos to the GG Team.
Ian Wheat
And man, that's a horrible situation you're in and I wish I had some good advice for you. =\
- ian wheat