𝐑𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐍𝐀𝐑𝐃, 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬: 𝐉𝐨𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐫𝐜.
Dear all,
As everyone knows by now, I am going through a legal dispute with Mythic Games, publisher of the game Time of Legends: Joan of Arc.
Mythic Games has chosen to make this conflict public and to recount the events in an untruthful and outrageous manner, seeking to discredit and tarnish my reputation as an author.
I therefore have no choice but to respond in order to restore the truth, that is far more prosaic and simple than they claim.
𝐖𝐡𝐨 𝐢𝐬 𝐌𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐜 𝐆𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬?
Mythic Games is a company from Luxembourg, which I have never signed any contract with. In 2016, this company acquired the French company Play & Win, then co-owned by Benoit Vogt (co-owner with Pascal Vesperini, alias Léonidas Vesperini, of the company Mythic Games) and Piotr Borowski, manager of the company Sans Détour (
http://opengazettes.com/gazette_notices/395547292).
It is with the company Play & Win that I have signed. No other.
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦?
Mythic Games, which has not even signed my contract, claims that it was me who drew up this document. That is not true.
It was provided to me by Play & Win.
Even if I had drawn up this contract, it is not clear, moreover, what difference it would make regarding its performance.
𝐍𝐨𝐧-𝐩𝐚𝐲𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐨𝐲𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬
Thanks to the 10,000 players who pledged, the game raised over $4 million, which were paid to Mythic Games between 2017 and 2018.
According to our contract, I should have received 6% of the net sales revenue.
It is now January 2020 and neither Mythic Games nor Play & Win has paid these royalties to me (except a very small advance).
While we are going through a dispute over this clause, Mythic Games finally acknowledged that it owed me important royalties.
I ignore whether they cannot or do not want to pay those royalties to me. The fact is that they have not paid them.
The fact is also that despite their obligations, they still have not provided me with the supporting documents for the "net turnover" collected, or for the payment of the various taxes (VAT for example).
𝐈𝐧𝐟𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 " 𝟏.𝟓 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 ".
By completely omitting the " 1.5 version " dispute, Mythic Games wants you to believe that our conflict only involves my royalties payment. This is not true.
What actually triggered our dispute was the launch, without my agreement, without prior consultation and even without giving me any information, of a Kickstarter and a Late Pledge for a new version of Joan of Arc, that Mythic Games presented under the name "Time of Legends: Joan of Arc 1.5".
I naturally alerted Kickstarter on the infringing nature of this campaign.
This brutal launch, in violation of my rights, while I still have not been paid for the first campaign, obviously makes me fear the worst: that Mythic Games will deliver an altered or botched version, or even never deliver this version, and that they will use the collected funds to pay-off possible losses.
In reality, I am only defending the outcome of years of hard work, efforts and of historical research conducted more than 20 years ago, before the release of my first game Montjoie!
I also wish to protect the projects and extensions of Joan of Arc that I am working on, that this so-called " 1.5 version " seriously jeopardizes.
My own rights set aside, what is actually at stake is the future of the license and the best interest of the many pledgers and players.
I take this opportunity to thank my professional friends, as well as the communities of players and pledgers. Many of you have shown me your comforting support, which is incredibly heartwarming.
𝐏𝐚𝐬𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐁𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐋𝐞𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐝𝐬: 𝐉𝐨𝐚𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐀𝐫𝐜