Movie Games responds to DDS creator’s claims with $1.2M fine, saying they aren’t valid

Things between Byterunners, the team behind Drug Dealer Simulator, and their publisher, Movie Games, have gotten pretty messy lately. It all started back in April when Schedule I released on Steam and was an instant hit. Movie Games launched an investigation against Schedule I as some players were comparing it to the DDS series. Word got out, and suddenly people started review bombing both DDS games, not realizing it wasn’t the devs behind it, but their publisher. A few months passed, and now Byterunners decided to take Movie Games to court. Just yesterday, Movie Games put out an official statement.

DDS developer demands 40% of profits, publisher responds with $1.2M fine

When the DDS series got hit with review bombing, Movie Games stepped in to clear things up around Schedule I. They explained there wasn’t any lawsuit, just an internal investigation. Since Movie Games is a publicly traded company, they were required to run the investigation as a standard procedure and disclose it through official stock market channels.

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Rafal Pecherzewski, creator of Drug Dealer Simulator, now demands 40% of console profits (pointing to Poland’s “bestseller clause” to argue his pay has been too low) and payment for unpaid work of DDS2. He claims he hasn’t transferred copyright to Movie Games, while the publisher insists contracts give them full rights, including console releases.

Pecherzewski says Movie Games only agreed to talk after learning an article about the dispute was in the works. The negotiations quickly fell apart, though. Once the article went live on September 8, Movie Games banned Byterunners from the official DDS Discord and cut off their access to DDS 1 and 2 assets. He says the studio is now ready to take the matter to court and shared an update on X explaining what’s happening.

Not long after, Movie Games released a statement, saying:

And that’s around $1,235,000. Movie Games also says that Pecherzewski’s claims don’t have any legal basis, especially considering the terms of the agreements between them.

The publisher responded that under the DDS1 and DDS2 agreements, Pecherzewski transferred the copyrights to the company, including the right to modify, adapt, and create derivative works. This means the company has full control over console versions and doesn’t need any additional approval from him.

Regarding the “bestseller clause” in Polish copyright law (Article 44), the company argues it doesn’t apply here. They noted that Pecherzewski was already fairly compensated for DDS1 and DDS2, including profit-sharing from sales, so there’s no evidence his pay was disproportionately low compared to the company’s benefits.

Source: X

Byterunners have already reacted to Movie Games’ fine on X.

Drug Dealer Simulator

April 16, 2020

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