Boku Leaves Shrapnel, 82nd Airborne in Limbo

<strong>[ Update ]</strong>

<p>Last night, <a href="http://www.bokustrategygames.com/" target="_blank" title="Boku">Boku Strategy Games</a> let it be known that they've parted ways with <a href="http://www.shrapnelgames.com/" target="_blank" title="Shrapnel">Shrapnel Games</a> under less than friendly circumstances.</p><blockquote><p>Fort Wayne, IN February 1st, 2007. Software game publisher Boku Strategy Games announced today the termination of all contracts with Shrapnel Games. Boku Strategy Games has full ownership, rights and interest to our award winning game line. This includes Horse and Musket:Great Battles of the 18th Century, expansion packs, Horse and Musket 2 Series titles, Dragoon: The Prussian War Machine, Prussia's Glory, Combat Command 2 series and The War Engine. This also includes our unreleased board game, BaseBrawl.</p><p>All work from Boku Strategy Games on the long delayed release of 82nd Airborne has also been cancelled. "We are sorry to the fans who have been waiting for this release but they are going to have to continue to wait." says Michael Cooney, owner of Boku Strategy Games, "We worked hard on this title for two years, updating it and getting it through beta testing. All that was left was for Tim Brooks to do his bit - create the actual scenarios - and, four years later, we're still waiting. It's time for Boku to move on."</p><p>Boku Strategy Games solicited their work on 82nd Airborne to Shrapnel Games but only received an offer of $500. "We find this amount quite bizarre given that over a thousand hours was put into this effort. We have yet to see any monies from our development and would like to ask Shrapnel Games if they ever intended on selling this game after collecting on all the pre-sales", questions Mr. Cooney.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Boku Strategy Games is currently looking for a publisher of their unreleased board game BaseBrawl and plans to announce a long term deal for our current computer games. We will have more news on current and future titles in the near future.</p></blockquote><p style="margin-bottom: 0in">This leaves the fate of <a href="http://www.shrapnelgames.com/sg_development/All%20American/1.htm" target="_blank" title="82nd">All American: 82nd Airborne in Normandy</a> in much doubt. Boku's Horse & Musket series, however, already <a href="http://www.matrixgames.com/forums/tm.asp?m=1271623" target="_blank" title="HnM at Matrix">moved on to Matrix</a> back in October.</p><p style="margin-bottom: 0in"><u>Update</u>: For the Shrapnel response, see <a href="http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/blog/2007/02/03/all-american-alive-and-well%e2%80%a6-an-open-letter-to-our-fans/" target="_blank" title="Shrapnel blog">this</a> and the comments below. </p>

As LCJr pointed out, Shrapnel main man Tim Brooks responded on the Shrapnel Forums:

All American is alive and well and will be out 4th qtr. 2007. A demo will be available this summer.

We removed Cooney's post because it was full of lies and half truths. And we are totally amazed at sites that actually posted the release without contacting us first as it was so obviously an attack on Shrapnel.

More on this in a blog later today.

Please also know that we are disappointed in the time it has taken to get 82nd out and it is all my fault. Also know that anyone requesting a refund can have it. We have given refunds to anyone who pre-ordered 82nd and wanted a refund and will continue to do so. To date, and this is off the top of my head, but we have given less than 30 refunds, not bad for a game that is coming close to 750 preorders.

I want to thank everyone that has stood behind the game and has put their faith in me and Shrapnel. You won't be disappointed.

Please contact customer support if you would like a refund of your pre-order.

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Nothing like a bit of drama to spice things up.

Fez said:

Nothing like a bit of drama to spice things up.

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Shrapnel needs to get off their asses and do their part if we're going to have some real drama.

Response at the Shrapnel Blog:

I will break this down giving you as much information as I feel comfortable in giving in order to set the record straight. The text below contains excerpts from the Boku press release and our responses in bold.

“BOKU STRATEGY GAMES CANCELS CONTRACTS WITH SHRAPNEL GAMES

Fort Wayne, IN February 1st, 2007. Software game publisher Boku Strategy Games announced today the termination of all contracts with Shrapnel Games. Boku Strategy Games has full ownership, rights and interest to our award winning game line. This includes Horse and Musket:Great Battles of the 18th Century, expansion packs, Horse and Musket 2 Series titles, Dragoon: The Prussian War Machine, Prussia’s Glory, Combat Command 2 series and The War Engine. This also includes our unreleased board game, BaseBrawl.”

Actually, we sold all contracts to Michael Cooney dba Boku Strategy Games in late 2006 with the exception of The War Engine and BaseBrawl. This was a negotiated agreement that I am sure neither party was happy with as happens in all negotiations.

Shrapnel Games cancelled The War Engine agreement in December 2006 once inventory was depleted and, since no formal agreement existed with BaseBrawl, we took down all references to the game at Mike’s request in November 2006.

“All work from Boku Strategy Games on the long delayed release of 82nd Airborne has also been cancelled. ”

In November, 2006, after Mike’s request for us to remove BaseBrawl from our website, we asked Mike to send us code he had to date on All American for our evaluation so we could negotiate a settlement. We did not wish to work with Mike any further. We received no reply from Mike and in December began working on the original code from scratch.

” ‘We are sorry to the fans who have been waiting for this release but they are going to have to continue to wait.’ says Michael Cooney, owner of Boku Strategy Games, ‘We worked hard on this title for two years, updating it and getting it through beta testing.’ “

Michael Cooney worked on the code part time during this period as art and music became available.

” ‘All that was left was for Tim Brooks to do his bit - create the actual scenarios - and, four years later, we’re still waiting. It’s time for Boku to move on.’ ”

Actually, maps are still being created, voices have yet to be recorded for the new scenarios and yes, some scenarios need completion. The delays in completion are my responsibility. I hold no one but myself accountable. The responsibilities of running a small publishing business and fighting a three year illness (I am fine now) were the major factors contributing to my delays.

“Boku Strategy Games solicited their work on 82nd Airborne to Shrapnel Games but only received an offer of $500. ‘We find this amount quite bizarre given that over a thousand hours was put into this effort. ‘ ”

There was an agreement in place from the time Mike began work on the game under which he stood to realize a great deal more than $500. The agreement included a guarantee plus a share of royalties. Mike contacted us in late January 2007 asking to negotiate a settlement. This request came after our not hearing from him on this matter in roughly two months and after we had already started work internally. We agreed to negotiate for his code but stipulated that we would have to see the code first. He refused to show us the code and demanded payment of a sum he felt he deserved based upon the number of hours he said he worked on the project. Our reply was that without the opportunity to evaluate the actual code we would pay $500 - a way of saying we had to see the code (as is industry standard). Mike then threatened us with a press release stating that we would ONLY offer $500 for the code.

Maybe he worked for 1000 hours, but the original agreement was for a completed game, not an hourly rate. We estimated that we could do the work in about 1/3 of that time.

” ‘We have yet to see any monies from our development and would like to ask Shrapnel Games if they ever intended on selling this game after collecting on all the pre-sales’, questions Mr. Cooney.”

Actually we made a small payment to Mike when he was painting his house. This was unsolicited by him, but we wanted to help him out. I told him then that we would consider it an advance on his royalties for 82nd. The original agreement was for all payments to come from royalties after release of the game.

Since Michael Cooney was unwilling to release the code and we were unwilling to negotiate a deal without first seeing the code, our last e-mail in these negotiations to Mike (before his press release) said:

“Since we are unable to come to an agreement, the existing agreement remains in effect.”

This, of course, is the agreement for royalties with a guarantee, payable once the product was released, representing far more than $500.

“Boku Strategy Games is currently looking for a publisher of their unreleased board game BaseBrawl and plans to announce a long term deal for our current computer games.”

Although we do not wish to work with Michael Cooney in the future, we wish him all the best. BaseBrawl is a game design that we think could be very successful.

As to All American … we have, since summer 2006, been promising a 2007 release. With programming the code from scratch (which we estimate will take roughly 150 hours from this point), we are on schedule for a demo this summer and a 4th quarter release. We have given refunds to anyone who pre-ordered 82nd and has requested a refund and will continue to do so. Anyone who has pre-ordered and would like a refund should please contact our online Customer Support Center. There is link to Customer Support on our homepage.

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Sad.

I think Elwro got it right. That could have been handled a lot better and maybe we'd have got a nice game too.