The Polish publisher PlayWay has resolved its conflict with Titan GameZ, the studio working on the city-building game with real-time strategy elements, Viking City Builder. This was reported by the Puls Biznesu portal.
Viking City Builder
Below is a brief history of the conflict according to Puls Biznesu.
- Titan GameZ has been closely collaborating with PlayWay since its founding in 2020. 43.47% of its shares are owned by the publisher.
- Soon after its establishment, the studio took out several loans from PlayWay totaling 3.4 million złoty (880 thousand dollars), promising to repay them by the end of 2023. The funds were intended partly for the development of games Viking City Builder and UBOAT: The Silent Wolf VR, but this amount proved to be insufficient.
- In mid-2022, Titan GameZ again sought funding from PlayWay but was denied.
- In August 2023, Titan GameZ held a shareholders' meeting where it announced that it was in a difficult financial situation. At that time, it passed a resolution to save the studio, which included the possibility of selling any Titan GameZ assets, including Viking City Builder, without needing PlayWay's consent.
- PlayWay was dissatisfied with this decision and therefore sued Titan GameZ, accusing it of infringing on its interests. Ultimately, PlayWay succeeded in having the resolution overturned.
- Later that year, Titan GameZ found a Swedish investor willing to provide the studio with 1 million euros to repay loans and 3 million euros for the development of Viking City Builder as part of a "publishing partnership." PlayWay blocked the deal, calling its terms unfavorable. Allegedly, the investor planned to take 60-70% of the game's revenue, resulting in PlayWay receiving almost nothing.
- On November 30, Titan GameZ released UBOAT: The Silent Wolf VR. The game became commercially successful, but despite this, the studio did not manage to repay PlayWay loans by December 31.
- After several disputes, in September 2024, Titan GameZ and PlayWay reached an agreement. PlayWay forgave the studio's debt, which with interest grew to 4.4 million złoty (1.14 million dollars), in exchange for taking over the rights to Viking City Builder. It also arranged for the game's further development to be transferred to President Studio—the creators of Crime Scene Cleaner.
- The release date for Viking City Builder is unknown. Currently, the game ranks 78th on the list of most-wished projects on Steam. To date, Viking City Builder has amassed over 370 thousand wishlists on the Valve platform.