Beyoncé Sued For $107m By Small Game Dev
Stories about celebrities acting up can end up unintentionally hilarious, but this one goes one step further by invoking the ruination of Christmas! If you're a fan of artist/actress Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, or if you just like sticking up for the little guy, then you may be interested to know that the hit singer is being sued by small developer Gate Five for failing to stick around and help them complete the dance game StarPower: Beyoncé.
According to a copy of the summons filed in the New York Supreme Court, Beyoncé had entered a "services and exclusive license agreement" in the summer of last year to work with Gate Five on a game based on her career. At the time, she had already "negotiated lavish compensation terms to which she was contractually bound," but that wasn't enough to save Christmas.
Ms. Carter, at a crucial moment in the project's development, made an extortionate demand for entirely new compensation terms she suddenly wanted. When her maneuver backfired and drove away the financier (who found Ms. Carter too erratic to do business with), she pulled out the project in breach of the Agreement.The summons also mentions the financial devastation the breach caused, calling Beyoncé's actions "so callous that, on what appeared to be a whim, she destroyed Gate Five's business, and drove 70 people into unemployment, the week before Christmas."
So while it seems there's definitely grounds for litigation on Gate Five's part, one has to wonder why they seem so desperate to paint Beyoncé in a negative light even before both parties get to court. Theirs almost sounds like a desperate plea for sympathy rather than a secure knowledge that they had their contract all in order.
By the time this is over, it might be said that if Gate Five liked it, they should've put a completion clause on it.
faePuck
Posted to Miscellany, Video Games on 27 April 2011
· Comments (9)
Other stuff like this: beyonce, development woes, gate five, litigation
Get her!
"too erratic to do business with"
yay.
I do wonder how a small game dev managed to get the no doubt pricey rights to Beyonce's image and name in the first place.
I bet her initial "lavish" compensation scheme was entered under the impression that this game's potential was significantly less than Beyonce's team realized. Coming in later to demand a more "market" level of compensation from a services contract is not unusual--but it only goes this far awry when you involve the egos of the negotiators. I'm not saying we have enough info to say who's right, but I hope they work it out.
Damn, cause I really wanted to play a beyonce game.
Beyonce is a douche. (Not especially for this. In general.)
Go get her boys!
Sounds like the small time game developers have no legs to stand on in this case, they will be eaten up. Go team Beyonce!
Put 70 people out of the job a WEEK BEFORE CHRISTMAS...screw you Beyonce, damn celebrities think they can get away with next to anything. GO TEAM GATE FIVE!
On a less fanatic note, I really dislike it when people with a big ego and a bigger bank account (barely bigger) think they can do next to anything and not have to face any ramifications. I feel sorry for the small time developers, I mean on the other hand no crappy Beyonce game but still, that's a huge loss and she probably couldn't give two craps. >:(
If you sign a contract, you darn well better honor it. Especially when you're already filthy rich. How much more millions does Beyonce need? I hope she loses everything.