Publisher PQube has responded to allegations from developer Corecell around the development and ownership of AeternoBlade 2.
In a statement provided to IGN (in full below), PQube appears to say that it didn't pay an agreed minimum guarantee to the developer because Corecell self-released a PC version of the game. It also says it "sent numerous proposals and supporting agreements" to give rights for the game back to Corecell, but claims it wasn't acknowledged by the developer.
Last week, PQube offered a similar response to allegations from another developer. We asked for an update on that situation, but the statement did not specifically cover it.
PQube's full statement follows:
AeternoBlade II developer Corecell has called out publisher PQube for not paying out the entire minimum guarantee in the game’s publishing agreement. It's the second developer to draw attention to the publisher in a week.
“PQube has published AeternoBlade II on Nintendo Switch, PS4, and Xbox One in Europe since October 2019 under a publishing agreement with us and agreed to pay a minimum guarantee to us, “ Corecell says in a statement on Twitter (below). “However, PQube only paid a small part of the minimum guarantee of the signing milestone by the time we sent them the game and they never paid the remaining milestones.”
Corecell claims that it tried to resolve the situation with PQube amicably, but both parties could not reach a solution. The developer seemingly decided to terminate the publishing deal back in September 2020. However, Corecell also claims that PQube refuses to relinquish publishing rights back for the AeternoBlade II on console, and continues to sell it on multiple platforms, thus recouping all of the revenue from the game in Europe.
We have important news to share with you.#indiedevmatter #aeternobladeii #gamedev #indiedev #indiegame @xboxuk @PlayStationEU @NintendoEurope pic.twitter.com/AXwphGQYnL
— CORECELL OFFICIAL (@AETERNOBLADE1) September 1, 2022
Corecell claims that PQube offered to give console publishing rights back, but only if the developer kept this situation privately under wraps. “We knew something was not right, but as a small independent developer, we could not afford to pay legal fees to fight the case in another country,” says Corecell.
The developer says it has also contacted Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft about taking AeternoBlade II off of digital stores in Europe, with only Nintendo and Sony complying.
Corecell says it still wants to work on the action-puzzle game by pushing out patches and new content updates, but the developer says that it had to pick up additional work elsewhere in order to recover financially due to not receiving any revenue from the game’s sales in Europe during the past 3 years.
IGN has reached out to PQube for comment.
This is the second time PQube has come under fire for its publishing deals in the last week. Toge Productions issued a statement about its own publishing deal with PQube on A Space for the Unbound. Toge alleges that PQube withheld funds delivered by a diversity grant from the Indonesian developer, and instead used them to leverage a higher revenue share against them. It has since delayed the game indefinitely.
Last week, PQube told IGN that it has fully honoured its publishing agreement and that Toge Productions has tried to enforce unreasonable revised terms.
George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @yinyangfooey