GRIN, who you may know best as the creator of Capcom's Bionic Commando action game, claims that it went bankrupt due to an insane relationship with Square Enix. The company had been working on a "Nordic themed" Final Fantasy spin-off which never came to fruition. The company spoke out (to Swedish publication Aftonbladet) about its relationship with Square Enix, and the picture it paints isn't a pretty one.
The spin-off codenamed "Fortress" never had a chance, according to GRIN founders Ulf and Bo Andersson, because Square Enix was erratic, unreasonable, and contrary in its dealing with GRIN. GRIN says that Square Enix didn't pay any of the $20 million contract it had with the studio to develop the game, even though it met every milestone it was supposed to right up until it went bankrupt in August 2009.
GRIN also claims that Square Enix told them that they didn't like the game's "Nordic style" - despite the fact that Square Enix hired them to deliver such a style. Grin also claims that Square Enix told them that milestones should be filed to its legal department, that they should "fax" code and music to them, and that they would reject anything they sent to them.
Some of GRIN's claims are over the top and hard to believe - particularly the bit about Square Enix wanting GRIN to fax game code. As is usually the case, the truth is somewhere in the middle of the mess, and GRIN has to take some responsibility for the games it developed that ultimately failed.
Source: The Escapist
Comments
Re: GRIN Blames Square Enix for Bankruptcy
tbh Grin hadn't made a single game actually worth speaking of, so i blame them outright.
ReArmed aside, as it was "okay", i mean it was bad when it was on nintendo ( a good kinda bad) so how does one mess that up?
they're lineup was piss poor in offering. the PC GRAW games had potential, but the fast killed support by Ubi and terrible release state of either outright made them worthless. the MP was decent, but not even close to the quality of the other GR games, consoles included.
the BC game overall just sucked, and all else they had any hand in kinda flopped, or they were so minimal that may be the only reason anything sold.
Re: GRIN Blames Square Enix for Bankruptcy
"As is usually the case, the truth is somewhere in the middle of the mess, and GRIN has to take some responsibility for the games it developed that ultimately failed."
Wow. Editorializing much? For all we know, Square Enix could be the only culprit, Grin could be or whatever. We only have a one side account and little facts to go on. Blame doesn't always lay on all the parties...
Re: GRIN Blames Square Enix for Bankruptcy
I have to admit, the "faxing" bit sounds downright suspicious. Faxing sheet music may be reasonable, but, speaking as a professional programmer, faxing a game's source code is every bit as productive and efficient as photocopying a 26-volume encyclopedia series cover-to-cover (ie: it can be done, but it's a colossal waste of time and paper). Either this claim is true and someone at Square-Enix is very, very stupid, or that part of the allegation was pulled from GRIN's rear-end. To the looks of it, it might just be the former.
I have to admit, I laughed at Square saying a screenshot of FFXII "does not look like Final Fantasy" as a litmus test. It reminds me of a graphics whore complaining that graphics in a "work-in-progress game" weren't realistic enough; the kicker was that it was a hi-res photo of actual scenery and not a screenshot of a game at all.
Re: GRIN Blames Square Enix for Bankruptcy
While it never happened to me, I did hear stories at my old company of people wanting source faxed to them before.... generally bureaucrats wanting it for confirmation or escrow.
I could easily picture some lawyer at Square wanting faxed 'official' copies to confirm various milestones or something equally silly.
Re: GRIN Blames Square Enix for Bankruptcy
Square Enix can indeed suck to work with.. I would not be surprised at all if the account was accurate.