As part of the broadcast on the eve State of play dynamic action was shown Aeon Must Die! from the Estonian team Limestone Games and the French publishing house Focus Home Interactive… The project immediately attracted public attention, but it soon turned out that a real drama was unfolding behind the scenes of development.
Almost at the same time as the presentation of the trailer on the air Sony the news spread across the Internet that key backbone of developers Aeon Must Die! no longer working on the game, moreover, since June 2023… This outcome was allegedly driven by a prolonged conflict within the studio between executives, an unhealthy work environment, screaming corruption, paltry salaries and inadequate attitudes towards employees, numerous production difficulties and mistakes, as well as bordering legal conflicts of interest on the verge of litigation. for intellectual property.
The developers who stopped working on the game, led by its founder and creative director, who left the studio, made a loud statement after they allegedly did not wait for an adequate response to what is happening in Limestone Games from the publisher Focus Home Interactive. They posted a large set of files online with detailed descriptions of the studio’s unhealthy practices, examples of discussing work points with the CEO and other documents related to production. Aeon Must Die!
Before State of Play, the core of the game’s developers compiled a large letter for the players and the press, the full text of which is given below.…
Sony’s State of Play will air on August 6. Aeon Must Die will be shown there! (AMD) – project, created by a collective of people who had to leave their former studio Limestone Games in June 2023 along with its founder and creative director…
The reasons for this act are endless rework, inappropriate relationships, bullying, corruption and various forms of manipulation…
When the team turned to a lawyer for help, it became known that that the entire company, including its intellectual property, was quietly taken away from its founder… Numerous attempts to establish dialogue and improve the situation were blocked by management and major shareholders.
June 22, 2023 publisher Aeon Must Die! received a confidential letter from the development team who expressed concerns about the company and asked for help… In total, 12 former and current Limestone Games employees signed the document.
The team asked for cooperation from the publisher so that the game could be finished on reasonable terms and correspond to the high quality of execution.… On the same day, 8 employees of Limestone Games, including the founder of the studio, announced their dismissal.
The publisher reacted with a small Internet letter, and then remained silent for almost a month while Limestone Games continued to pressure the team by any means possible.…
Completely ignoring the fact that the lawyer was trying to settle the case, and also not noticing attempts to establish any contact, the president of Limestone Games sent out threatening and accusatory letters, terminated employment contracts prematurely, and created negative performance that hinders further employment…
The very same [уволившаяся творческая] the team took a wait-and-see attitude and hoped for a reaction from the publisher, who would see the real state of affairs and provide the necessary support. The publisher asked me to wait until the conflict is resolved. Accordingly, the development team continued to wait, hoping for the publisher, whose credibility had already been undermined by the fact that someone [из Focus Home] sent the contents of a confidential email [от уволившихся сотрудников] back [действующему руководству] Limestone Games… The move ultimately helped fuel more threats and pressure from the company, which once again damaged the development team.
A month later, and thanks to the help of a lawyer, the publisher finally asked the developer side for any evidence supporting the allegations.… During this period, the team had almost no means and strength to continue the struggle. Then the publisher was sent audio files, logs, documents, bank statements and other evidence base…
After a few more weeks, in early August, the team asks the publisher to provide at least some answer on the upcoming demo of the game on State of Play and its future in general. In addition to the numerous violations documented in the submitted documents, the development team also notified the publisher that the current project trailer infringes the intellectual property rights of people who worked on parts of the scenes without signing a contract with Limestone Games or paying for their labor.… This episode was critical and most relevant, and the developers hoped to avoid damage from both sides as much as possible.
Finally, by the end of the working week, the development team was able to contact the publisher’s senior lawyer. During the conversation, it turned out that from the side of Focus Home Interactive, almost no information sent by the developers (including the general plan and explanatory messages) was processed.… The lawyer assured [уволившийся] team that the publisher does not see problems in what is happening and that there is no reason to cancel the scheduled presentation… Requests to re-examine the documents and the general situation before it is too late were ignored (a transcript of this conversation will be posted later).
According to the publisher, [презентация Aeon Must Die!] should be an “incredible impetus for the game”… The team was offered to help [с руководством Limestone Games] and think about the future of the project.
About the future of a game that was stolen and created in conditions of unpaid rework, theft and mockery?
The materials received by the press are an edited version of the file archive previously sent to the publisher. Content removed from here at the moment can cause even more damage to developers, who are already without any protection. The same deleted content, by agreement, can be provided to the interested parties in it, trustworthy. But even in this form, all documents speak for themselves.
Regardless of further legal implications, the team has no choice but to make this information public. “
At the time of writing this news note, the publisher has not commented on the situation, but on the network it is being discussed vigorously.
Aeon Must Die! was announced for release next year at Playstation 4, Xbox one, Nintendo Switch and PC… But now, according to the retired employees, practically no one is working on the game – everything slowed down in June with their departure… How the CEO who remains in the studio plans to resolve the issue is unknown, but in the past he has allegedly lied to the publisher on several occasions.
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