News Room Contributor Posts: 4911 Joined: 12 Nov 2002 | Perpetual Entertainment Sued By PR Firm
Public relations firm Kohnke Communications has sued Perpetual Entertainment, alleging breach of contract, fraud and other charges.
According to a report by GamesIndustry.biz, the PR company was hired in early 2007 to conduct a campaign on behalf of the Gods & Heroes MMOG, at a cost of $15,000 per month. However, according to the terms of the deal, $10,000 would be withheld each month over a seven month stretch, to then be paid back to Kohnke along with an incentive of up to 400 percent of the withheld total, representing $280,000. The percentage was to be based on the number of Gods & Heroes subscribers 90 days after the game shipped.
In October, however, following significant layoffs from the Gods & Heroes development team the previous month, Perpetual announced the game had been placed on indefinite hold, essentially canceling it. Kohnke now claims it has not been paid for its work, and that it was not aware of Perpetual's difficulties until it received a notice of assignment for the benefit of creditors. As a result of Perpetual's actions, which it alleges caused or worsened the company's insolvency and resulted in the cancellation of Gods & Heroes and the loss of incentive plan income for Kohnke, the PR firm is suing for breach of contract, fraudulent transfer, intentional interference with contract and fraud. The suit seeks compensation of $80,675 to $290,675, as well as punitive and-or exemplary damages. Perpetual has 30 days to file a response.
Despite its financial difficulties, which culminated in the liquidation of its assets, Perpetual was reported in late November to have been acquired by new ownership, and that while Gods & Heroes had been canceled, its other project, Star Trek Online, was still in production. The game was expected to take a new direction, aiming for a more casual audience and possibly foregoing monthly fees in favor of microtransactions for optional in-game items.
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Anonymous Source Posts: 10 Joined: 12 Dec 2007 | Real shame, looked like a good game to me. Heard a bit about this earlier, not sure I fully understand the situation yet either. It really just sounds to me as though Perpetual feared Star Trek Online and G&H would compete with each other too much and would fail each other out, so they tried to get out of paying Kohnke.
There has to be more to this though, G&H and STO seem to appeal to two different MMO sub-demographics, Star Trek/Sci-fi fans and Fantasy/Ancient civilization fans, they had to have realized this so now the only conflict possible is funds and I think Kohnke posed a threat to STO's immediate success. |
News Room Contributor Posts: 4911 Joined: 12 Nov 2002 | My guess is that the fantasy MMOG genre is risky enough as it is - by which I mean, a virtual dead-end - and that G&H isn't the first and won't be the last project of its type to fade into oblivion, the victim of dollar-sign dreams being stomped all over by nasty reality. STO might have a hope because of the value of the franchise, but I wouldn't even give that one better than 50/50 odds of making it. |
Perpetual Entertainment Sued By PR Firm
Public relations firm Kohnke Communications has sued Perpetual Entertainment, alleging breach of contract, fraud and other charges.
According to a report by GamesIndustry.biz, the PR company was hired in early 2007 to conduct a campaign on behalf of the Gods & Heroes MMOG, at a cost of $15,000 per month. However, according to the terms of the deal, $10,000 would be withheld each month over a seven month stretch, to then be paid back to Kohnke along with an incentive of up to 400 percent of the withheld total, representing $280,000. The percentage was to be based on the number of Gods & Heroes subscribers 90 days after the game shipped.
In October, however, following significant layoffs from the Gods & Heroes development team the previous month, Perpetual announced the game had been placed on indefinite hold, essentially canceling it. Kohnke now claims it has not been paid for its work, and that it was not aware of Perpetual's difficulties until it received a notice of assignment for the benefit of creditors. As a result of Perpetual's actions, which it alleges caused or worsened the company's insolvency and resulted in the cancellation of Gods & Heroes and the loss of incentive plan income for Kohnke, the PR firm is suing for breach of contract, fraudulent transfer, intentional interference with contract and fraud. The suit seeks compensation of $80,675 to $290,675, as well as punitive and-or exemplary damages. Perpetual has 30 days to file a response.
Despite its financial difficulties, which culminated in the liquidation of its assets, Perpetual was reported in late November to have been acquired by new ownership, and that while Gods & Heroes had been canceled, its other project, Star Trek Online, was still in production. The game was expected to take a new direction, aiming for a more casual audience and possibly foregoing monthly fees in favor of microtransactions for optional in-game items.
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