Image: Mojiken Studios
Update [Wed 24th Aug, 2022 16:35 BST]: PQube Games provided us with the following statement in response to Toge Productions’ Twitter post:
“We have fulfilled all the obligations of our publishing agreement and supported Toge Productions at all stages of product development during its delays and difficulties. This support has included the provision of significant additional funding, beyond the funding of grants, to support development, portability and commercialization.Toge Productions has long attempted to unilaterally enforce the unreasonable revised terms of our agreement and it is disappointing that, as a result of our failure to do so and despite significant efforts of PQube to accommodate this, have attempted to handle the matter in this manner. We will respond through the appropriate channels.”
Original story below…
Toge Productions and Mojiken Studios have announced that their fantastic 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.
Indonesia-based companies have accused PQube Games of using its position and Indonesian heritage “to obtain a diversity fund from a well-known console platform,” which is a grant meant to help underrepresented game developers . This was created during the pandemic. However, Toge and Mojiken claim that PQube “withheld information about the grant and used it as leverage for their own commercial gain.”
PQube is reportedly refusing to return the console’s publishing rights to the developers, so Mojiken has made the decision to hold back the console’s release while it “attempts to make new arrangements.”
Here’s the full statement from Toge Productions and Mojiken Studios on Twitter:
Dear Space Divers,
We are pleased 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 UK-based publisher we signed for console publishing of A Space for the Unbound for Western regions, had done certain things that made us feel manipulated and exploited, and that is why we 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 Indonesian developers to obtain a diversity fund from a well-known console platform. The diversity fund was a grant fund meant to help underrepresented game developers, especially during the pandemic. However, instead of giving these funds to the developers as the grant intended, PQube Games intentionally withheld information about the grant and used it as leverage for their own commercial gain. Instead of paying us the grant money, PQube Games hid the facts about the granting of the grant and added it as a minimum recoverable guarantee and then used it to negotiate an increase in their revenue share . We only discovered the actual amount of these funds and their intended purposes in March 2022.
We are heartbroken that a party we have worked with would do this and a project we have worked on for seven years has been taken advantage of in this way. Since the discovery of this issue, it is clear that we cannot trust PQube Games and continue to work together for the release of A Space for the Unbound, as PQube Games has fallen far short of not only reasonable decency, but also of their obligations to us due to these predatory practices.
We need to take a stand against exploitative publishers and speak out to prevent things like this from happening again in the future. Thus, we also announce that we have terminated our contract with PQube Games.
At this time, PQube Games still refuses to return publishing control to us on console platforms. It is with heavy hearts that we have to slow down 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 manner consistent with our values and those of our community.
Signed, Toge Productions and Mojiken Studio
A Space for the Unbound was due out on Switch sometime this year. You can learn more about the game below:
We’ll let you know as soon as we have more information about a new release or western publisher.