A Space for the Unbound is on hold as devs and publisher clash over grant fund

destructoid.com:

Narrative adventure game A Space For The Unbound is on indefinite hiatus. This news arrives alongside claims from Mojiken Studio and Toge Productions that their console publishing partner PQube Games exploited them.

In a Twitter statement from the Space For The Unbound account, the companies say they discovered earlier this year that PQube had done “certain things” that left them feeling “manipulated and exploited,” and so their agreement has been terminated.

They allege that PQube used the developers’ Indonesian heritage to obtain a diversity fund from a “well-known” console platform in August 2020. These funds were intended to support underrepresented developers during the pandemic, yet Toge and Mojiken claim PQube withheld information about it.

Instead, PQube allegedly added the grant fund as a recoupable minimum guarantee. Then it allegedly used this to negotiate an increase of PQube’s revenue share.

Toge and Mojiken say they uncovered the true amount of the funds and their intended purpose in March 2022. Due to it, the pair decided to terminate their contract with PQube Games.

“We are absolutely heartbroken that a party we worked with would do this and a project we have worked on for 7 years has been taken advantage of in such a way,” the statement reads. “Since the uncovering of this issue, we clearly cannot trust PQube Games nor continue to work together for the release of A Space For The Unbound as PQube Games has fallen considerably short not only of reasonable decency, but also of their obligations to us due to these predatory practices.”

We have important news to share with you. pic.twitter.com/O5od8fCp4y

— A Space for the Unbound ???? gamescom 2022! (@ASFTUgame) August 24, 2022

Toge and Mojiken say that as of