I think there is definitely a level of unethical behavior here but I think it was done in a manner of ignorance. I believe that the PysberX team has good intentions to actually develop a game and contribute to the Hive ecosystem but have certainly gone about it in maybe not the best way. Assuming there are legal breaches here, I would expect them to publicly address this and make amends.
Removal of inappropriately used assets etc from their assets (site/game/discord/etc) I don't see as a means of hiding their behavior but more so a means of trying to stop their wrong doing.
End of the day I think that if PsyberX was intended to be a rug pull or outright scam they have had plenty of opportunities to run away with the money.
For me, it seems like Justin and his team are simply inexperienced in the reality of game development, IP, and the legalities that putting out a game actually encompasses. I will look to see the studio's behavior going forward to see if things are corrected to the best of their ability.
In the case where artists are inappropriately compensated I expect inappropriate use of assets to cease and for the studio put together some method of tracking royalties etc for those artists. Artists at the end of the day simply want to be paid fairly and get exposure for their work and generally as long as that happens, they are happy.
I don't believe that all people are inherently bad however all people absolutely make mistakes. It comes down to how we address our mistakes that define us.
I share @baah's point of view. When you raise funds from the community in promise for something, then it's up to you to make sure that you're actually able to deliver and not just hope that you can figure it out.
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You probably miss some context. They removed the content from their homepage saying how many packs they sold (7500 x $ 10) so that they could tell the artists that they didn't sell much at all. That's what they stated in the comments, saying that they actually dropped most of them for free (although the landing page said "sold").
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For sure there is mismanagement of funds. Lots of funds withdrawn to exchanges (it's all on chain).
Building a game is expensive but something seems off.
Plus hearing some of their customers not getting refunded for undelivered work and unpaid devs that quit, just adds to the mix.
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I hope they'll do it but I don't see it happening. I suspect that they'll screw them over with nice words and give them nothing.
They are broke. Justin has debts and can barely pay rent.
Appreciate the time you guys take to respond to me.
I do see your points. Also, I'm relatively new to using forums such as Hive. How do I reply to specific sections like you did?
For their site, the the wording like that is very often an overlooked component in UI delivery in my experience. What I would be more concerned with is removal of the inappropriately used assets. Based on the conversation it seems this can't be done. As such, this is where I would point to the royalty system and agreement with the artists to make right.
Here is another area where transparency is key. Development absolutely costs money. If they are clear on what it is costing them such as how we handle HIVE proposals, I see no problem with them paying themselves and taking money out of the system in base principal. Again, the royalty issue is at play as some of that revenue is most likely legally belonging to the artists.
I still strongly hope that the right thing is done here. If Justin is broke, there is no point really going after him. In the US you can sue someone but if they have no money its generally not worth it. Knowing that he is based in SoCal makes me believe it. I looked at rents there and people are paying almost $3k/month just for a 600 sqft home. To make it at all you'd have to be making at least 60k or so there. However, in the event the game continues to progress, like they are saying, proceeds should eventually come and at that point having the royalty system in place will ensure future proceeds make it to the artists.
All that said, I'm a nobody and my thoughts are mostly irrelevant. I only had a few $ worth of LVL, I'm not actively developing for a studio, etc.
The content removal from their website is not an outlandish story but just adds to the mix. The main focus here is the assets from non credited and not properly compensated artists. And you covered that point.
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And yes, they'll need to track royalties if they keep working on this as they say.
Well, I think that is actually quite common. People bite off more than they can chew per say in pretty much every industry. The saying, 'fake it till you make it' exists even.
Once the realization that a project is a failure though, that is when the project should die. Milking it past that point is highly unethical.
So the question is, is the game anything like what it was marketed as and has there been periodic improvements to get to that point if not.
@kotenoke They promised:
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Development has been paused for a few months and they now say they may resume in Q1.
Certainly measurable KPIs which is important. All projects should have goals and objective milestones which can be compared against.