Ammobox Studios announced that they’ve started a GoFundMe campaign as a way to raise funds for a legal battle that they plan to commence against TheGameWall Studios, who they’ve claimed have become a “rogue publisher” by stealing the revenue from Ammobox’s game Eximius: Seize The Frontline.
Not only was the revenue allegedly stolen for the game’s release, but apparently the “potential revenue” from unfulfilled marketing work was also taken as well.
Ammobox Studios’ Jeremy Choo explained in the press release what the team is trying to do, saying…
“It’s been a difficult period for our team; but at the same time, the support we’ve received as our story was shared over the past few weeks has been incredible. The kindness shown by members of the games industry and community has meant so much. Whether you are helping fund our campaign or simply pulling for us, we could not have reached this far without you!”
At present the GoFundMe campaign is seeking $25,000 in order to receive the necessary funds in order to take the publisher to court over Eximius: Seize The Frontline.
The game had been in development for eight years by the Malaysian outfit, but they claim that the publisher took all the money and cut off communication after the game released.
It was originally available on Steam under TheGameWall Studios, but then the first-person shooter was pulled after Ammobox used what they called the “scorched Earth” tactic of DMCA’ing the publisher…
“Weeks after launch , as we cannot bear to see our work of close to a decade die a premature death , we continued to support the game with development updates , patches and marketing activities from our own pocket. We thought a few more weeks this publisher will perhaps reply to us. As days grew to weeks and months, we had to pull the plug. Having our money delayed was one thing , having lost all of it is altogether a different news. However the mother of all bad news was that he is in full control of the application rights in Steam and has locked us out of the finance controls. One week before Christmas 2018 , instead of distributing the planned Launch Bonus to the hardworking team, we had to DMCA our own game in a scorched earth move.”
The hybrid FPS-RTS game is actually very well received and beloved by the Steam community. After working with Valve on getting the game restored to Steam under their own development label, Ammobox noted on the GoFundMe page that they had lost out on a lot of sales in between the time it took them to DMCA the former publisher and regain the rights to their title.
They were hoping to fund the legal expenses and get TheGameWall Studios to finally pay them back what they were owed for Eximius.
While they continue to accrue funds through the GoFundme campaign, you can still purchase Eximius: Seize The Frontline from the Steam store for only $29.99. The game is still in Early Access, though, so keep that in mind.
