First of all, I would like to say that my heart goes out to Luis's family and their sick child. My daughter has also had major health issues in the past, so I understand what it's like. (Unlike Alastair Happ, however, my daughter fortunately does not appear to have any major long-term disabilities as a result of her issues.) And as much as I may sound naive in saying it, I still take Luis at his word that his intent to contribute 75% of BadLand's profits to Alastair's healthcare trust fund was sincere and motivated by his desire to help. I don't believe he set out to deceive any of us and in the beginning operated in good faith.
If BadLand can make good on its end of our business arrangement, I harbor no ill will toward Luis or anyone else at BadLand. That said, they haven't demonstrated any serious attempt to make good on what they owe. Over the course of a couple months, we had discussed and agreed to terms under which they would pay Tom, but when I sent them a payment plan, I didn't hear back for a couple weeks. I asked them to get back to me, but they said they were discussing it with their lawyer and would get back to me ASAP. That was in early August and was the last email I received from them. (For context, Axiom Verge: Multiverse Edition launched in Europe on January 26, 2018. It normally takes about 3-4 months after launch for the revenues to come in so that developers can be paid.)
It was around this time that I decided to retain a lawyer, as I was getting the sense they were just stalling for time. Since then, they have published multiple games so they must have had cash at their disposal. Their decision to use that cash to publish more games instead of to pay their existing debts was a deliberate choice they made.
I do hope they re-engage with us as well as Limited Run Games. As I said, I'm sure I speak for Tom when I say that neither of us harbors any ill will toward the company. We just want to get this resolved, as the amounts involved would have a meaningful impact on Tom's and Alastair's life.
Thanks,
Dan