GreedFall developers call for boycott of their own game in protest against Nacon

Yesterday it was confirmed that the Spiders were being liquidated. The studio, best known for the GreedFall series, suffered financial difficulties when Nacon's parent company went into administration.

Now, through their French allies, Spiders' developers have accused Nacon of deliberately sabotaging the studio. Furthermore, they claim they have never received royalties for their work and have urged fans to boycott the game to ensure the money does not go to Nacon.

GreedFall developers say they warned executives about financial problems but ignored them.

GreedFall Woman with white face paint with dark stripes and dark blotches around her eyes in The Dying World

“Officially, liquidation occurs because Spiders is not making sufficient profits and there are no takeover offers,” said a statement released through the Union of Video Game Workers. “It is actually the result of a deliberate procedure on Nacon’s part.”

The statement explains how Nacon acquired the Spiders in 2019. They say the deal makes Nacon the “owner, president and sole customer” of the studio. This means that Nacon depends on securing a contract with Nacon to continue operating. GreedFall: The Dying World was the final deal after other projects were canceled last year, but the team revealed that another game was in the works before news broke yesterday.

“The studio received no royalties for any of the games it created, and all earnings and liquid assets were effectively seized by the group,” the developer claims. “In effect, the Spiders were empty shells, their role reduced to a department within Nacon, but organized in such a way that they could be eliminated at the whim of Nacon management.”

Employees also said management ignored their warnings about the Spiders' financial problems. They say Nacon “never wanted to save the company,” implying that it could have avoided liquidation.

Spider calls for a boycott because developers don't make money from game sales.

Vriden Gerr and Nilan stood side by side in GreedFall The Dying World. they are overlooking the city

Developers are urging fans to boycott their work because they can no longer make money from game sales.

“Workers at the studio already earned nothing other than their salaries, which for many of them were meager,” the statement said. “It will now be impossible for the studio to receive a penny from the sales of its games.

“We don't want to see the group responsible for the Spiders' sudden demise pillaging our still-warm profession. Although we want the game to still be enjoyable, we hope players will avoid giving money to Nacon as Nacon will be a reward for the group's actions.”

This includes Spiders' latest game, GreedFall: The Dying World, as well as currently unreleased DLC. We actually don't know how the DLC will be released at this point. A previous statement from Spiders stated that the DLC would be handled by Nacon.

All of this comes just one month after the release of GreedFall: The Dying World. This long-awaited sequel serves as a sequel to the first GreedFall game and expands on the setting introduced in 2019. We gave it a 3.5/5 in our review and praised the writing and world-building, but found it unfinished in some areas.

Nacon has been contacted for comment.