This is a copy of the “script” we used to organise Brainwaves Episode 140. It is not a full transcript but should give you an overview of the news as we reported it. Quotes are in italics.
Headlines
Webcomic Name creator sued by Golden Bell
Episode 110: https://giantbrain.co.uk/2022/11/14/brainwaves-episode-110-tolling-bells/
History of Golden Bell scandals: https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/259248/golden-bell-affiliated-projects-and-companies
- Back in episode 110, which went out in November of 2022, we reported that artist Alex Norris (they/them) was being sued by a company that wanted to publish a game based on their comics. The artist said that they were basically being sued for all their intellectual property by an unnamed publisher that Alex had allowed to make games based on their comic.
- You may be familiar with Alex’s work which is called Webcomic name. These are 3-panel comics where the punchline is always one of the characters saying “Oh No”
- Alex had started a crowdfunder to fight the 2022 lawsuit and the last update from Alex was in October of 2023. Until now.
- Alex is being sued again by the same publisher who is of course the notorious Golden Bell.
- For those not familiar with Golden Bell they practically have their own segment on Brainwaves. They are a publisher who has repeatedly been responsible for late Kickstarter campaigns most famously with the game Unbroken. Golden Bell has multiple late and failed projects under its belt. If you are ever approached by Golden Bell to publish your game run very fast in the other direction.
- Alex posted on their GoFundMe on the 24th of March. They started like this
- They have launched a SECOND lawsuit against me.
- The case that began in 2019 is mostly over, and I have basically won. I wish it was as simple as leaving it there and walking away. But this new case is taking up even more of my life and unfairly forcing me to spend more and more in legal fees.
- This means I’m having to re-open this fundraiser to get out of debt with my legal fees yet again. If this was intended to wear me down even further, I won’t let it. The end is in sight, despite their ridiculous conduct and attempts to complicate things.
- Alex goes on to thank everyone for their support so far and explains that they were hoping to fund this new lawsuit out of their own pocket using income from their comics and online shop. Alex has found this untenable so is asking for more help.
- The initial lawsuit saw Alex asking for £250k which was achieved. This new work has meant Alex has raised the target to $430k or around £340k. The GoFundMe sits at £323,267 as of recording on Friday, the 12th of April 2024.
- We are providing a link to a BoardGameGeek thread that details some of the many controversies Golden Bell has been involved in.
- Thanks to my friend Keith Mclennan for bringing this story to my attention.
Chris Cocks interview with NPR
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2024/04/03/dungeons-and-dragons-hasbro
- Chris Cocks, CEO of Hasbro has recently been interviewed by a Boston-based site called Here & Now.
- In the interview the CEO is asked about the OGL debacle of 2023, whether or not Hasbro is ‘killing their darling’ by overproducing Magic: The Gathering, and speaks to the current and future situation with Dungeons and Dragons.
- This is an important year for Hasbro as they launch a new version of D&D and face new competition from Critical Role who have been champions of the 5th edition of the roleplaying game.
- When asked about the layoffs in the run-up to Christmas last year, Cocks said:
- “We had to make the tough decision to let some people go at the end of last year. That overwhelmingly affected our toy business and kind of like the corporate services that help support it. It did have a smaller impact on our games business, but that was for different reasons inside of toys. It really was around driving this turnaround inside of games. It was more around just kind of changing priorities in a rapidly growing and developing business because games has been a business that’s been growing for us, for the last 15 years [and] represents a major investment for us. And we think it’s going to be a major grower for us in the future.”
- He goes on to say that games have been growing at mid to high single digits for the last decade whereas toys have been treading water with growth in low single digits for the last 10-20 years.
- When asked about the OGL scandal at the start of 2023, Cocks says:
- “We make mistakes. We have had products that haven’t done as well. We have made some decisions that we’ve had in some cases quickly walked back. And I think it’s the strength of the game that we’re as connected to our community as we are, that we empower our teams to make decisions and to be agile and to learn from them.
- “D&D, it’s one of the most open game licenses in the history of gaming. It’s got a vibrant creator community that we value a great deal. We continue to work with those creators. We continue to work with those small publishers. We continue to work with those streamers to make the game as big as possible and as great of a hobby as well as a living for people who kind of create around it as we possibly can.
- The interview also touches on Magic: The Gathering being Hasbro’s first billion-dollar brand and the downgrading of the company’s stock after an analyst at Bank of America thought that Hasbro was pushing the brand too hard. He says that the Bank actually put them back up to sell after a couple of months and that he is proud of the work they have done expanding the player base and tripling the size of the game.
- There is an interesting bit about the diversity of the player base. According to the CEO:
- “Most video games, particularly, most kind of more hardcore strategy games, they have maybe ten or 15% of their player base that identify as non-male. For Magic, it’s more like 35% of players identify as non-male. For ‘Dungeons & Dragons,’ it’s closer to 45%. You know, we’re very proud of the diversity and the focus on all players of all different stripes who can play the game.
- We would like to remind listeners that amongst the people fired in the run-up to Christmas last year were several of the team behind the Universes Beyond sets for Magic: The Gathering, which has proved immensely successful.
MTG Plagiarism again
- Back in episode 134, we reported on the claims that a piece of art in Magic The Gathering had been created by effectively copying another artist’s work. That case involved the card Wayfarer’s Bauble and the artist in question, David Sondered, apologised for what had happened and Wizards of the Coast cut ties with them.
- Now Magic is back in the news for almost the same reason. Artist Donato Giancola took to Facebook on the 26th of March to claim that art in the card ‘Trouble in Pairs’ from the recent Murder at Karlov Manor commander decks, stole art from his work on the front cover of a 2020 cyberpunk novel.
- Donato wrote:
- Wow. Nearly speechless, but not speechless enough not to contact a lawyer. Copyright infringement.
- What were you thinking Wizards of the Coast?
- To be clear, there are exacting details in the neck, arms, background, and hand which show clear copied structures from my art. Copied and pasted. This is not about ‘similarities’ , this is about direct copying.
- Donato shared the image of the card beside the cover they had drawn and the similarities are uncanny.
- When the allegation was made in the magicTCG subreddit Wizards of the coast replied saying:
- We appreciate our community flagging concerns on the card art featured in “Trouble in Pairs” – we’re looking into it.
- There were claims that other parts of ‘Trouble in Pairs’ were copied from different sources but this has not been possible to verify at this time.
Updates
Embracer finishes restructuring at Asmodee
- Over the last half year, we have been bringing you news about the Embracer group, the Swedish company that bought Asmodee alongside several computer game studios.
- Embracer has been going through a massive restructuring due to missing out on a deal with a Saudi investment fund to the tune of $2 billion. It seems that Embracer had banked on that money to prop up their buying spree across the digital and tabletop gaming space.
- As we reported back in December of last year, episode 134, restructuring had started at Asmodee as part of this company-wide move.
- Lars Wingefors, the CEO of Embracer group said recently that:
- “Asmodee is one of the absolute most important businesses we have within the group, and I’m very keen to support them”.
- Last year Asmodee outperformed the PC and Console games divisions of Embracer for net sales. Wingefors said that he has been approached by parties interested in buying Asmodee but that the company is not for sale.
- Recent figures released at the end of the restructuring process revealed that the headcount at Asmodee had fallen by 82 to 2500.
- The same can’t be said for the computer game portfolio of embracer which has shed about 1400 people and shuttered major studios.
- Disclosure: Oliver has undertaken paid demonstrator work for Asmodee at UK Games Expo.
News
Ellie Dix works with Hasbro
- Back in episode 134, we reported on Hasbro’s inaugural Women Innovators of Play challenge.
- Now we are pleased to say that one of the winners, board game designer and owner of The Dark Imp, Ellie Dix, has visited Hasbro’s headquarters in Rhode Island for “A Day in the Life” experience and a mentorship session with one of Hasbro’s top women leaders.
- Additionally, work has started on developing the family card game that Ellie submitted for the 2023 contest.
- Kim Boyd, president of global brands and franchise management at Hasbro, says that:
- “As a true testament to the power of women inventors everywhere, Hasbro is thrilled to be investing in an incredible game by one of the challenge’s winning inventors, Ellie Dix, and we will be partnering with Ellie to further develop her game concept.”
- For the 2023 challenge, Hasbro received 130 submissions and the company is going to continue the challenge this year, starting October 10.
- Hasbro has recently announced that there will be a 2024 edition of this programme.
- Kim Boyd, Hasbro’s president of global brands and franchise management said:
- “We are on a mission to attract more women and girls to the toy and game industry, and I could not be more inspired by the response to our Women Innovators of Play event and Challenge.”
- It is not known at this time what prize money will be up for grabs, but last year saw 3 winners take home $10k and gain mentorship from women business leaders within Hasbro.
- A separate Girl Innovators of Play boot camp will be offered alongside the Girl Up organization. Girl Up is an organisation dedicated to giving girls opportunities to pursue leadership roles around the world. From the organisation’s website:
- “The world needs new solutions and leadership now. Girl Up is expanding girls’ skills, rights, and opportunities to lead. We’re changing the face of leadership for generations to come.”
- Thanks to Chris Priscott from our Discord for drawing our attention to this story.
Capstone and Spielworx
https://www.spielworxx.de/news
- In a press release dated 5th of April 2024, US publisher Capstone Games LLC and German publisher Spielworxx GmbH have announced a partnership to bring all of Spielworxx’ titles to North America.
- Capstone Games, based in Cincinnati, is known for modern board games that feature rich, evolving gameplay, including Wandering Towers and Ark Nova.
- Spielworxx, an independent games publisher from Germany, publishes well-known games such as Die Macher and Colonialism and also localizes games from around the world into German.
- The two companies have partnered in the past, including games such as Arkwright and Weimar – The Fight for Democracy.
- Under the new partnership, Capstone will make Raising Chicago by Matt Wolfe available for pre-order some time in April, EPOS: A Gentes Game by Stefan Risthaus will come to crowdfunding in June, and Dolcissima Vita by Giansiome Migoni will be available to preorder in July.
- Clay Ross, owner of Capstone Games and Uli Blennemann, CEO of Spielworxx are clearly very happy about the partnership.
- Blennemann says:
- “I’m very excited to work with longtime friend Clay [that is]. Capstone Games ensures that all Spielworxx games will be available to a wider audience in the United States and Canada. Capstone is well anchored in the distribution network and has strong direct sales.”
- Ross adds:
- “The very first Capstone title, Arkwright, was done in partnership with Spielworxx and with my good friend Uli. When I started Capstone, our focus was on heavy strategy games and the rich gameplay they provide. Now, with our partnership with Spielworxx, we are able to offer even more games that fit this playstyle, true to the original foundations of Capstone. We are very excited to bring the finely crafted Spielworxx designs to a wider audience in North America!”
- Thanks to Sarah Reed from our Discord for bringing us this story.
- Disclosure: Oliver Kinne has undertaken paid contractual work for Spielworxx.
Jobs, Opportunities, and Events
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Outro
Scouts Cluedo
https://shop.scouts.org.uk/outlet/scouts-cluedo#selection.color=34&selection.size=719
- At 117 years old this year, the Scouts have had many games associated with them. In the last few years, Monopoly, Warhammer and Dungeons & Dragons have become associated, but we have another.
- In Cluedo: Scouts, the Scout Leader received a letter saying that a Scout patrol had saved someone whilst lost in the wilderness. The letter did not say which patrol, where or what equipment was used to assist, however.
- In locales such as the campsite, the marshes or the farm, players will be a patrol and suggest equipment such as a torch, a compass or a bottle of water.
Monopoly film, Margot Robbie’s company now producing
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-68786095
- LuckyChap is a film production company from Margot Robbie, star of such films as I, Tonya, something else and recently, the very successful Barbie.
- Luckychap has stepped onboard to produce a film based on the legendary board game Monopoly, alongside Hasbro Entertainment, a facet of daddy Hasbro.
- Rumours about a Monopoly film have been flying about for over a decade, and we have covered several of these on this podcast over the years. At one point Kevin James was attached, then that went quiet.
- Lionsgate film company is involved, after buying eOne, Hasbro’s previous entertainment studio.
- No word on the plot and what that might be at this time. It could be a Barbie-esque deconstruction of the setting and a sideways and irreverent but heartwarming look at the impact of it. Or, a plot suggestion from Richard of Wer’re Not Wizards: “It’s probably going to focus on the theft of the game from the original woman designer and how it was originally a critique on the housing and rental market, but was changed by the boy who stole it and sold to Parker. But that’s just a guess.”
- Was going to do a bit about Earring Magic Ken, but realised Barbie is Mattel not Hasbro.
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