The authors of The Muller-Powell Principle settled their conflict with the publisher and regained the rights to the game
Last summer, the studio Three Dots Games, developers of the sci-fi puzzle game The Muller-Powell Principle, launched a critique against the game's publisher, Take Aim Games. At that time, the studio claimed the company violated agreements and essentially stole the rights to the project. A year later, the dispute has been resolved.
The Muller-Powell Principle
The conclusion of the conflict was shared on Reddit by the head of Three Dots Games, Artem Perevoz. According to him, after involving lawyers, the studio and the publisher agreed on three key points:
1. Take Aim Games relinquished the rights to The Muller-Powell Principle. All intellectual property rights, including the rights to create a sequel, transferred to the studio;
2. the publisher returned control of the game's Steam page to the developers;
3. Take Aim Games and Three Dots Games revised the revenue-sharing terms. Now the revenue will be split 30/70 in favor of the publisher until they recoup their costs, after which the shares will reverse — 70% of the revenue will go to the studio, while the publisher will receive the remaining 30%.
“It might not be the perfect outcome, but it allows us to retain IP rights, make new games in the universe we created, and profit from our first game,” Perevoz concluded.
Official representatives of Take Aim Games have not made statements regarding the situation, but it's worth noting that since the beginning of July, the company no longer appears as the publisher of The Muller-Powell Principle on Steam — Three Dots Games is now listed in that role.