Dangen Entertainment has reached an agreement with Devil Engine creator Protoculture Games about outstanding royalties and the Devil Engine publishing contract.
The companies declared that their issues had been settled “to their mutual satisfaction” in a statement issued on the Dangen Entertainment and Protoculture Twitter pages.
“The parties have reached an agreement to end the current Devil Engine contract and return the rights to Protoculture Games. Following a comprehensive study, Protoculture’s legal counsel decided that Dangen’s contracts, payments, and sales reports were reasonable, fair, and carried out in good faith throughout the publishing agreement.”
Dangen and Protoculture’s feud was made public in 2019 when a number of developers came out to accuse Dangen Entertainment of unethical business practices, mishandling of communications and payments, and sexual harassment on the part of then-CEO Ben Judd.
Following the allegations, Judd stepped down to be replaced by current CEO Max Harvey, and the company outlined a plan to make things right with its developers by allowing them to “reconsider contracts and decide whether or not they would like to continue forward with Dangen under its new management” – including a specific offer aimed at Protoculture.
Though Dangen and Protoculture’s legal issues appear to be addressed, an additional comment on the Protoculture Twitter account from Devil Engine artists and musicians Thomas and Joseph Bailey implies that Protoculture is still dealing with internal conflicts.
It opens by stating that the Dangen Entertainment statement was “posted to fulfill legal commitments that Protoculture Games LLC has agreed to.”
According to the statement
Programmer and main developer Tristan Chapman willingly ceded control of the Twitter account to them in June 2020 “after we opposed his publishing excessively inflammatory and increasingly untrue charges under the pretext of representing all of our thoughts.”
“We have not condoned the majority of Tristan Chapman’s past actions and media pronouncements, and we will no longer be working with him in the future.”
The statement concludes that Protoculture no longer has the right to use Devil Engine’s art or music and that they are currently in negotiations with Protoculture’s legal representation.
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Ben Judd
Ben Judd (born October 25, 1974) is an American translator, producer, and agency. He is a former Capcom employee. Judd is an American who lives in Japan and was Capcom’s first non-Japanese producer. Judd has had various voice acting cameos during his career, notably the English voice of Phoenix Wright in the Ace Attorney series.
He formerly worked for Digital Development Management (DDM), a video game agency. Judd worked at DDM and helped arrange the Kickstarter crowdsourcing efforts for Mighty No. 9 and Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, as well as helping to create the deal for Scalebound. Judd is a co-founder of Dangen, a video game publisher.
Judd resigned as CEO of Dangen Entertainment after many employees accused him of sexual harassment and unethical behavior.
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