PQube Games has been accused of withholding a developer’s diversity grant

videogameschronicle.com:

A pair of Indonesian studios has accused UK publisher PQube Games of claiming a diversity grant on their behalf, then withholding the money from them.

Toge Productions and Mojiken Studio agreed a deal with PQube to handle the console publishing of its upcoming game A Space for the Unbound.

However, Toge and Mojiken now allege that PQube used the fact the studios are based in Indonesia to get a diversity fund from “a well-known console platform”, then chose not to pass the money on to them.

Instead, the studios claim that PQube “intentionally withheld information about the grant and used it as a leverage for their own commercial gain”.

In a joint statement on Twitter, the studios announced that A Space for the Unbound had been “delayed until further notice” while they tried to find a new publisher for the console versions of their game.

“Earlier this year we discovered that PQube Games, a UK-based publisher that we signed for the console publishing of A Space For The Unbound for western regions, had done certain things which have left us feeling manipulated and exploited, and so we have had to terminate our agreement with them,” the statement reads.

“At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in August 2020, PQube Games used our position and heritage as developers from Indonesia to obtain a diversity fund from a well known console platform. The diversity fund was a grant fund intended to help underrepresented game developers, especially during the pandemic.

“However, instead of giving those funds to the developers as the grant was intended, PQube Games intentionally withheld information about the grant and used it as a leverage for their own commercial gain.

“Rather than paying the grant money to us, PQube Games hid the facts about