Adventure Gamers - Forums

Jonathan Boakes posted this on Facebook this morning:

“Very disappointed in GOG, the game download website. They have been selling my Dark Fall games and refuse to acknowledge me as the creator and copyright owner.

I still own the copyright on games called ‘Dark Fall’, but they insist some crooks called Nordic Games own them. Nordic say they bought them from Dreamcatcher, which simply isn’t true. Dreamcatcher were issued a Cease and Desist years ago! Also, Nordic and GOG have failed to pay any royalties or provide sales figures.

It’s very depressing. And, if I can’t get paid what I am due, for my work, there is no point making games. It’s a real shame, but I’m not sure I want to go through all this every time I make a game. It is soul destroying and makes me feel like I have wasted my time and provided plenty if cash for greedy suits with no morals or honesty.

If you have bought my games from GOG (Dark Fall retails at $5.99!!!) then I am sorry to report that not a cent actually made it to me; the only person credited in making the games.

Game people: anyone got any advice for me?”

Apparently GOG has just pulled Dark Fall from sales because of legal issues, so GOG is at least looking into it.

http://www.gog.com/forum/dark_fall_series/game_removed_from_sale

TheEnigmaticT says this officially about the situation of the Dark Fall games sold in GOG

We have removed the games from sale as an act of good faith despite the fact that we have not been sent any paperwork from the devs that prove that they have the rights to the games in question. We have been speaking with the dev and with Nordic; for obvious reasons, GOG.com cannot comment on an ongoing rights issue, but we hope that this is resolved soon to all parties’ content.

The GOG discussion thread: http://www.gog.com/forum/general/dark_fall_creator_dissapointed_in_gog/page1

Yeah, if anyone is to blame here it seems like it would be Dreamcatcher, if they knowingly sold it to Nordic without the right to do it. Nordic wouldn’t really be at fault at all.

And it certainly seems like GOG is responding appropriately if they pulled the game from sales while looking into the matter.

You would think Boakes would have the supporting evidence, as you all say. But despite that, it’s still a shame for him. Maybe he wasn’t aware of all the ins and outs of what he needed. Either way, it stinks for him! Hopefully it gets settled to everyone’s satisfaction.

To the best of my knowledge, Jonathan Boakes is one of the good guys, and frankly, Dreamcatcher always gave me that slippery feeling with the way they obtained and distributed games that sometimes needed a lot of after market support. They may have helped get AGs through the dry patch of the 00’s, but very few of their games really impressed me. I always had the feeling I was playing a sloppy tech demo instead of a fully realized and polished game. That in itself isn’t proof of malfeasance, but it does speak of a company that had little interest in producing or distributing quality product, and were willing to put any old thing out to rake in a few more bucks, regardless of what it did for the reputation of AGs in general. Not my idea of an ethical or trustworthy company.

Basically, if Boakes says he got a C&D to keep Dreamcatcher from selling his game against his wishes, then I am inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt, until I hear otherwise.

It’s probably a complicated issue. When Dreamcatcher went bust the administrators etc will sell off the rights to properties as a way to recoup the debt.

I don’t know what his distribution contract with Dreamcather was, but it was probably different for the EU and US companies. His C&D may or may not have been valid in which case Nordic are well within their rights to buy it if the C&D failed.

It sucks for the developer, but as we are seeing lately with THQ. UNless you can afford to buy back you own IP then it could go anywhere and you see nothing of the profit.

Casulties of selling rights to third parties. Fortunatly these days it is a bit easier to go it alone with the likes of Steam etc, but it may mean less sales.

P.S I see Adventure Shop was also getting a bashing from a couple of developers for not paying and being non responsive. ALso they seem to list a lot of their games as being published by Lezard Interactive and don’t mention the developers at all. Shady practice.

Lee in Limbo - 02 April 2013 02:05 PM

To the best of my knowledge, Jonathan Boakes is one of the good guys

...and I agree!  I have never heard anything negative about this man. That includes Agustin, Matt and others that have collaborated with him.  Plus he puts out high quality games.

Stay away from the GOG forums though.  Everyone over there jumping to conclusions or hypothesizing.  Many there have never even heard of the Dark Fall games as well as The Lost Crown, one of the best adventure games ever. Just hope whatever is going on doesn’t effect the release of The Last Crown, which is a highly anticipated release. He hasn’t let me down yet.

The whole thing does sound a bit odd. I bought my copy of the games over a year ago, so it’s not like the games have just appeared in their catalogues, and GOG and Amazon are both pretty well known distributors, so you’d think a word of either of them selling the game would have came to Boakes ages ago.