The maker of games based on The Office, Star Trek and RuPaul’s Drag Race licenses has been hit with a lawsuit accusing the company of unfair business practices.
Court documents unearthed by mobilegamer.biz show that Oregon developer Truly Social Games has filed five charges against Vancouver-based East Side Games.
TSG alleges that after signing an agreement to help develop and market four games, East Side Games then pulled the agreed development and marketing support, seeking to “improperly terminate the contract with TSG, steal for itself the code base and artwork created by TSG, and excuse itself from any further obligations.”
The complaint adds that the company’s actions are “part of a concerted and deliberate business strategy that Leaf [East Side’s trading name] has executed multiple times”.
Elsewhere in the documents, TSG quotes East Side Games CEO Jason Bailey as having said that he intends to “ruin” TSG, and that he has publicly joked that he intends to “rip off” developers and “make lots of money” from them, because he says he is “evil”.
The case revolves around a four-game deal the two companies struck in 2021 to work on Archer: Danger Phone, Roll for Adventure: Idle RPG, Bud Master and another unconfirmed title.
It contains five charges: breach of contract, breach of duty of good faith and fair dealing, unjust enrichment, breach of fiduciary duty and fraudulent inducement.
East Side Games responded to the claims, calling them “meritless”, as part of a financial update released in December:
“The Company believes it has fulfilled its current obligations under the Acquisition Agreement between TSG and the Company dated June 22, 2021. A TSG subsidiary has filed a claim in Oregon and on December 19, 2022 their general manager issued a press release. The Company believes the claims are meritless. The Company has responded on multiple fronts and is committed to resolving this matter.“
