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Dangen Entertainment Robbing Indie Devs? (Updates Threadmarked)
- Thread starter Theswweet
- Start date
I suspect that the GamesIndustry article is going to be the sum total of the investigation done (at least, in the English language). That said, the fact that Rebekah a) managed to find more sources to confirm Ben Judd's sexual harassment and b) managed to get all three of Judd's character witnesses to admit to pretty much all of the misconduct is IMO a pretty decent scoop in its own right.
GameIndustry article is good.
This was also the worse time to discover that Ben Judd was also the original voice of Phoenix Wright.
This was also the worse time to discover that Ben Judd was also the original voice of Phoenix Wright.
Oh man:
This guy has some fucking nerve... Especially considering all his sexual misconduct:
(And much more at the link)
So gross.
Thank you for the words of support to everyone who tagged me. The GI biz article is the only one I directly spoke to and provided with my chat logs with Ben.
I'm not sure why exactly he thought it would help him to send what I assume is those exact same chat logs to "the media" but...
I have to admit seeing his 3 "character witnesses" completely dunk him into the trash was a total surprise but hey, I'll take it. Basically everything I initially called him out over in August (predatory behavior, harassment and racism) was proven. I said this on twitter but I feel like I can finally exhale and maybe perhaps go back to my projects.
Thank you again, for not letting this die.
I'm not sure why exactly he thought it would help him to send what I assume is those exact same chat logs to "the media" but...
I have to admit seeing his 3 "character witnesses" completely dunk him into the trash was a total surprise but hey, I'll take it. Basically everything I initially called him out over in August (predatory behavior, harassment and racism) was proven. I said this on twitter but I feel like I can finally exhale and maybe perhaps go back to my projects.
Thank you again, for not letting this die.
I was expecting Kotaku to give this to Ashcraft, since, well, it makes sense to give this to your Japan correspondent.
But of course, in true Ashcraft fashion, it's just a half-assed copy-paste job.
Especially disappointing considering Ashcraft knows Judd personally but fails to provide any personal insight.
Reducing the situation to "messy" and not mentioning the payment and store access issues the devs are having is really bad way of reporting it, to say the least.
Yeah I didn't wanna say anything because I wasn't sure, but I could have SWORN they've gone drinking together? What an odd choice and conflict of interest.
That would make it a very odd choice, certainly not ideal
I finally had the time to read the gamebiz article. It's truly a fantastic piece of journalism but at the same time extremely infuriating to read.
Seriously, truly fuck Ben Judd. This fucking creep shouldn't be allowed in this industry or around women.
Seriously, truly fuck Ben Judd. This fucking creep shouldn't be allowed in this industry or around women.
I'm a little bit hesitant about Rebekah reporting that I wasn't sexually harassed. I shied away from talking about it much because there was already so much to cover, and personally I found the business problems Ben/Dangen caused more vexing. But...
With Alex, he kind of came out swinging with the creepy e-mails. With me, five years later, he had clearly learned to dial it back and avoid leaving so many receipts. But I don't think his behavior has improved. In fact, I think he's even more dangerous now.
He basically pulled Alex's life apart bit by bit, isolated them, made them dependent on him for their everything (employment, visa, emotional connection) ...Ben was trying to do the same thing to me. He tried to have me work at something that would be illegal on my current visa for 1/6th what would be the legal salary. He insisted that I had to move to Osaka eventually if I wanted to work with Dangen, even though Dan Stern lives far away from Osaka and works remotely from his wife's family farm.
He was trying to destabilize my entire life and leave me dependent on him for my employment, my visa sponsorship, my social circle, my living situation, and the safety of my friends' projects. He asked me what I wanted to do with my future, asked me about my "skillsets" and hopes for my career, and then wrote them all into that contract to try and take control over my most cherished dreams.
I never got to the explicit "oh, I heard you're dirty in bed!" part. But I have no doubt at all that that's what the endgoal was.
I wouldn't say "I wasn't sexually harassed". But I don't really care to argue with anyone over whether I was sexually harassed "enough", so I suppose I'll just have to swallow other people's technical definitions of what happened to me.
I'm still incredibly grateful for and impressed with Rebekah's coverage. Just that one assertion kind of makes me uncomfortable.
[Edit: Rebekah e-mailed me the article and I had mentioned my discomfort with that line. She's since e-mailed me back and said she'd try to edit the article and apologized for mischaracterizing my experience. Really, it was partially my own fault for wanting to stay more emotionally distant from the sexual harassment stuff in my Medium posts for fear of being doubted/attacked when I wanted to prioritize the business malpractice issues.]
Again, this has unfortunately already been the case since August.
* * *
dangenwarning.wordpress.com
I updated the Wordpress with links to articles I thought were good summaries of the situation, so if you have friends who don't want to read three novellas about the frailty of man to figure out wtf is going on with this stuff, feel free to link them to the Wordpress for a quick starter pack.
With Alex, he kind of came out swinging with the creepy e-mails. With me, five years later, he had clearly learned to dial it back and avoid leaving so many receipts. But I don't think his behavior has improved. In fact, I think he's even more dangerous now.
He basically pulled Alex's life apart bit by bit, isolated them, made them dependent on him for their everything (employment, visa, emotional connection) ...Ben was trying to do the same thing to me. He tried to have me work at something that would be illegal on my current visa for 1/6th what would be the legal salary. He insisted that I had to move to Osaka eventually if I wanted to work with Dangen, even though Dan Stern lives far away from Osaka and works remotely from his wife's family farm.
He was trying to destabilize my entire life and leave me dependent on him for my employment, my visa sponsorship, my social circle, my living situation, and the safety of my friends' projects. He asked me what I wanted to do with my future, asked me about my "skillsets" and hopes for my career, and then wrote them all into that contract to try and take control over my most cherished dreams.
I never got to the explicit "oh, I heard you're dirty in bed!" part. But I have no doubt at all that that's what the endgoal was.
I wouldn't say "I wasn't sexually harassed". But I don't really care to argue with anyone over whether I was sexually harassed "enough", so I suppose I'll just have to swallow other people's technical definitions of what happened to me.
I'm still incredibly grateful for and impressed with Rebekah's coverage. Just that one assertion kind of makes me uncomfortable.
[Edit: Rebekah e-mailed me the article and I had mentioned my discomfort with that line. She's since e-mailed me back and said she'd try to edit the article and apologized for mischaracterizing my experience. Really, it was partially my own fault for wanting to stay more emotionally distant from the sexual harassment stuff in my Medium posts for fear of being doubted/attacked when I wanted to prioritize the business malpractice issues.]
Again, this has unfortunately already been the case since August.
* * *
Dangen Entertainment Warning
A warning about the predatory business practices and sexually inappropriate behavior of Dangen Entertainment and its CEO Ben Judd.
dangenwarning.wordpress.com
I updated the Wordpress with links to articles I thought were good summaries of the situation, so if you have friends who don't want to read three novellas about the frailty of man to figure out wtf is going on with this stuff, feel free to link them to the Wordpress for a quick starter pack.
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Heya. Dwarn already made a note but wanted to drop in as well and add that I ran a small phrasing correction (noted at the bottom of the piece) to use the same phrasing they used in the article rather than something different. I didn't intend to make a value judgment of whether or not they were sexually harassed -- it was how I read the opening segment of the Medium post, but reading this correction and rereading the post once more I see why this was not a phrasing leap I should have made.
I'm very sorry to have made anyone feel I was telling them they "weren't harassed enough." Not ever my call to make.
I'm very sorry to have made anyone feel I was telling them they "weren't harassed enough." Not ever my call to make.
No worries at all, I'm sorry about that whole misunderstanding, and I really appreciate the care you've tried to take with everything. The topic is really hard to report on and I basically had no problem at all with the rest of your work and research. I'll admit I have a lot of issues with being the focal point of the story and have demonstrably acted as if other people (the lead devs, other women) were more harmed than I was while greatly minimizing mentions of my own problems to avoid seeming dramatic or selfish. It's a habit I was told some abuse victims pick up to distance themselves. (For the record, I've had much worse happen to me in the past that has nothing to do with Ben Judd, so I'm not claiming that he's the primary reason for my psychological quirks in this regard.)
I've been told a lot that my flippant and distant attitude (and especially my sarcastic tone) can seem as if I don't actually "feel bad" about a given situation, that people can't really tell if I'm being serious or not, and that I can come off "holier than thou". I do notice that's rubbed some the wrong way or made it easy to characterize my allegations as unfair and petty.
I'm a little surprised at my own reaction to seeing it plainly written that I wasn't sexually harassed, because I think normally I would also shy away from claiming victim status. But I thought it was important for other victims' sakes and future victims as well to not minimize what happened to me.
Basically, I'm really sorry for my own mishandlings and flaws causing any damage to the credibility of other victims, and for this to have caused you to seem insensitive with your reporting. Thank you for being so considerate.
duckvalentine Thank you for your article, it's a very thorough and excellent piece of journalism. And thank you dirtbagboyfriend and dwarn for your courage in speaking up and collecting all those receipts and so on, despite what seemed to be overwhelming opposition. You're all incredibly brave.
There's nothing wrong with trying to keep it professional. There have been enough corroborations anyhow.
There's nothing wrong with making it personal, either.
I think you're good either way.
so as expected they're trying to do the absolute minimum they can get away and wait for things to blow over
hope they don't get away with it
hope they don't get away with it
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"Actions speak louder than words"
"That's why I am gonna promise I'll remove your game from our listings and pay you, but not actually do either"
"That's why I am gonna promise I'll remove your game from our listings and pay you, but not actually do either"
Was happy about the Vestaria SaGa date announcement then I read this :/. Still going to get the game but likely not so soon now
Yeah, was hyped it then read dangen and thought "damn, is kaga going to actually get paid for this?"
Yeah theres no way i'll give a single dollar to fucking Dangen
Same here. I was looking forward to see what Kaga had in mind. But with Dangen, I have to wonder if he got screwed over in light of this whole storm.
Christ, Fight Knight's still on the front page of Dangen's homepage.
They're so eager to make amends that they can't even make a simple edit to a webpage.
Like, obviously their priority should be paying their devs and whatnot, but revising a webpage is a super quick win and an easy way to publicly demonstrate that you've at least done something. That they can't even bother to do that much is mind-boggling.
They're so eager to make amends that they can't even make a simple edit to a webpage.
Like, obviously their priority should be paying their devs and whatnot, but revising a webpage is a super quick win and an easy way to publicly demonstrate that you've at least done something. That they can't even bother to do that much is mind-boggling.
Bumping this to let people know Dangen may or may not be running the Wonderful 101 Kickstarter--they're not listed on the KS page but Kamiya said they were involved back in September and the PR emails people are receiving still seem to be coming from Dangen, so...
I don't doubt it but I want a public statement out of one party or the other, just to help ascertain who's the bigger liar.
Someone translated the officially registered business information of Dangen pulled from the Japanese business records database as of January 6th, 2020. Business records like this are available to the public at request but the exact addresses and official business ID number seem to be censored.
(Source of this translation: https://twitter.com/amythan2019/status/1224656510082412545 )
And here's a tweet from Gematsu confirming Dangen Entertainment e-mailed them the official press release for the Wonderful 101 Kickstarter.
Putting these two pieces of information together: Dangen is involved with the Wonderful 101 Kickstarter, and Ben Judd is still the CEO of Dangen, so Ben Judd and Dangen is involved with the Wonderful 101 Kickstarter.
Realistically I doubt anybody will stop backing the Wonderful 101 Kickstarter based on this information, but just wanted to dispel rumors that the Gematsu interview was outdated or that Ben Judd is not involved with Dangen still. Dan Stern is not listed as the new CEO and isn't even listed as part of the board of directors. Also, their reported capital is only $35k USD, which is less than two months of basic business expenses and not enough to pay their translators or developers their due payments. Dangen still lists Fight Knight and Devil Engine as theirs on their website.
(Source of this translation: https://twitter.com/amythan2019/status/1224656510082412545 )
And here's a tweet from Gematsu confirming Dangen Entertainment e-mailed them the official press release for the Wonderful 101 Kickstarter.
Putting these two pieces of information together: Dangen is involved with the Wonderful 101 Kickstarter, and Ben Judd is still the CEO of Dangen, so Ben Judd and Dangen is involved with the Wonderful 101 Kickstarter.
Realistically I doubt anybody will stop backing the Wonderful 101 Kickstarter based on this information, but just wanted to dispel rumors that the Gematsu interview was outdated or that Ben Judd is not involved with Dangen still. Dan Stern is not listed as the new CEO and isn't even listed as part of the board of directors. Also, their reported capital is only $35k USD, which is less than two months of basic business expenses and not enough to pay their translators or developers their due payments. Dangen still lists Fight Knight and Devil Engine as theirs on their website.
The W101 kickstarter doesn't even list who ported the damn game. The members at platinum listed don't include a programmer, The Yeetee is merchandise and Nighthawk Interactive is physical distribution. So who did the porting? I wonder who it could possibly be...
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Platinum themselves almost certainly. Dangen is like a handful of people and not a port studio. Most likely they just helped with PR/setting up the kickstarter page.
If Dangen is involved, even if it's just with setting up the kickstarter page, then all I can say is that Platinum will get along just fine without my money.
It's very likely that this is how they're involved. They've done the same with other Kickstarters like Mighty No. 9 and Bloodstained.
Also, This was added to the W101 Kickstarter's FAQ a few hours after it was launched:
Since Dangen's not mentioned on the Kickstarter page guess they're a "non-official partner", though not sure what the difference from "official partner" is with that. There's also that if they handle the Kickstarter page, that they could have put that there themselves.
Dangen had a really talented porting specialist (Iconoclasts, Momodora, etc) and it was one of the few services along with localization that they were quite good at. I'm not saying for sure that that means Dangen did the port but that's across the board one of the major services they provided so it's not very far fetched. Otherwise I'm not sure why Platinum would bother working with Dangen as they're not exactly known for their stellar PR/marketing. (For the record, FK and DE did their own porting because we signed before the porting specialist was hired. Almost all later projects were slated to receive porting services.)
Either way though, I'm not sure how Dangen "only" being involved with the Kickstarter/PR functionally changes the problem. They're obviously involved (why send PR emails, why has Platinum not simply clearly denied involvement and hid behind this "non-official unlisted partner" stuff) so it's up to people to decide whether that bothers them or not. I feel like fans splitting hairs about how "much" Dangen involvement is too much for them or just sort of hoping/guessing Dangen involvement is minimal kind of want to have their cake and eat it too.
Personally, what disappoints me isn't particularly the fact that Dangen probably worked on the project because a majority of this work was probably already completed months before the controversy broke out and I don't think anyone would particularly care if Platinum were honest about that. What bothers me is Platinum not being honest about what's a very simple question and forcing fans to make generous assumptions on their behalf. I want Platinum to say "well, Dangen is only doing PR, Dangen is not involved with the core project," or whatever other assurances that fans want to hear. Instead we're left with people speculating blindly and a bunch of pointless drama over what, honestly from my perspective, is not a very big issue.
Dangen and Ben Judd probably were slated to do some work for W101 the same way the Mighty No. 9, Bloodstained, Kingdom of Night, and Renaine Kickstarters were managed. Dangen and Ben's reputation became dirt but everything was already set up for Wonderful 101 so Platinum just deleted Dangen's name off the public Kickstarter information and had to push forward with it. Okay, cool, so far very reasonable.
Then why the weirdness with answering clearly how much or how little or even just "yes/no" Dangen was involved? If anything that penchant for completely pointless lying and hiding is what screams "Dangen is involved" more than anything to me lol. Seriously I doubt 95% of the W101 fanbase cares at all and this whole "story" would vanish instantly if Platinum just said "yeah Dangen did xyz but we aren't working with them after this" or whatever. Instead a non-zero amount of people will continue to speculate fruitlessly about this instead of just being allowed to decide for themselves whether Dangen's involvement matters.
Dangen's involvement in the TW101 remaster is a huge disappointment.
Platinum wanting to self publish their own stuff and Nighthawk being the ones in charge of the physical edition makes me think that Dangen are in charge of PR/Marketing/Consulting (which probably means they are the ones behind the KS campaign too).
:/
Platinum wanting to self publish their own stuff and Nighthawk being the ones in charge of the physical edition makes me think that Dangen are in charge of PR/Marketing/Consulting (which probably means they are the ones behind the KS campaign too).
:/
Judd was prominently attached to several high-profile crowdfunding campaigns, it's not that far-fetched to think they could convince P* let them handle the campaign and all that entails.
Dangen may very well have a network of individuals with expertise in handling Game Maker, Unity, etc but that wouldn't necessarily give them the skill or the resources necessary to port a game as large as TW101 (which even P* didn't make on their own, they had Bee Tribe working support and that's a big studio in and of itself). I don't really believe they'd be involved on the dev side.
I'll also say that I don't believe they're intimately involved because, if they were, that seems like something Judd would have blabbed about to try and impress someone.
On the other hand if they are not, PG can quite easily state as much before this blows up.