> I hope Mark's contracts were a lot smarter from then on.
> e.g. if assets weren't made available by an agree date,
> then there are get our clauses and the publisher cannot
> withhold any money for work done on other titles.
Doesn't work like that Moose, they *can* withhold money and they do. There were in fact multiple such clauses in our contract but that didn't make a blind bit of difference. These people are driven solely by profit, as far as they are concerned those that hold the money dictate the terms. The contract doesn't mean a damn thing to them.
Here's an example: towards the end of this particular project we delivered work that the publisher signed off on and got paid for themselves and they still turned around and refused to pay us our share, with no reason given. About six months later I was in the process of initiating legal action and they offered to settle for 50% in return for us signing a waiver that we forfeited the right to sue. Both parties signed, we put a stop to the legal action on our end and then they told us they had changed their mind and weren't going to pay again. Eventually I threatened to contact their local district attorneys office with a criminal complaint and we had our money within 24 hours.
My experiences aren't unique, this stuff happens all the time. It doesn't matter how water-tight your contract is, if the publisher thinks they can screw you and get away with it then most of the time they will. And the smaller you are, the more likely they are to try it on. The real lesson, as many developers are now finding out, is to seek out alternate development models and online distribution channels that don't involve a publisher.
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