Getting The Cold Shoulder From SouthPeak: Interview With an Unpaid Subcontractor

Gamecock began with high hopes. They gave the impression of being a new idea in gaming. They would be the publisher that helped the little guys out. I spent too many hours talking about MMOs with one of their then Associate Producers at last years Penny Arcade Expo and it was clear the company had a vision.

Sadly, as is the way with great ideas, things soon took a turn for the worse and the company was bought out by SouthPeak Games in October of 2008. Gamecock’s main investor was being shaken up by the economy and wanted out. This solved the problem of Gamecock’s finances, but created a host more for Gamecock’s previous contractors, who were now SouthPeak’s responsibility.

Below is an interview with one such contractor, Scott Dudley, who has very kindly agreed to talk to us about his dealings with SouthPeak and how the merger and subsequent failure to honour payment has effected him and his business.

NG: Firstly, what were you doing before you had any kind of business relationship with Gamecock/SouthPeak?

Up until April of 2008, I was working for Gaiam. Most of my career I’ve worked with Internet technologies from writing code to building communities. I’ve also mostly worked in the gaming space. Gaiam was a deviation from the volatile gaming industry. While there, I helped launch the Gaia.com social network.

Previous to my departure from Gaiam, I’d been dreaming up an idea I called “Digital Theatrics”. It’s a type of social media marketing campaign where we role play in-game characters as if they lived in the real world. Imagine if the cast of Mario was on MySpace. A lot of companies did ARGs where they touched on this, but rarely did they really engage the public. This is where I wanted to make a difference. I wanted Mario to be reading your blog and leaving comments.

I wasn’t finding another full time employment gig after Gaiam; so, eventually, I focused on building a small freelancing company called Webcraft Studios in hopes of getting to explore this new idea. Gamecock was my first big client.

I’ve long wanted to have a “mobile lifestyle” where I could work remotely on projects – allowing me to travel. A lot of folks, particularly freelancers, live this way today. Because things were coming together so nicely with Webcraft, I was in the process of rearranging my life for just such an adventure. I had hoped that a successful project with Gamecock would make for the portfolio piece I needed to continue doing social media work. My life was full of stoke! I was very happy.

NG: How did you start working for Gamecock and what did you do?

I flew down to Austin to meet up with some friends I hadn’t seen in a while. During the trip, I made some time to meet with Mike Wilson and the rest of Gamecock.

Mike Wilson gave me my start in the gaming industry back in the 90′s at Gathering of Developers. He hired me as webmaster and it lead to many great opportunities in my life. Mike can be an ass, but I love the guy. He’s gone out of his way to give a lot of people opportunities to chase their dreams. Before Gathering, I was doing tech support and a little bit of Web development at a small town ISP. My last project at Gathering was leading the complete redesign of the Take 2 Games website. The website we built is the one Take 2 has online right now – nearly a decade later. When Gathering sold to Take 2 Games, Mike and the rest of management made sure everyone got a share. They took care of me… of us. It was one of the strongest feelings of family I’ve ever experienced at a company.

Once again, he agreed to give me another such opportunity. It worked out well, as the marketing lead at Gamecock already wanted to do something somewhat similar. We decided to bring one key character from the background of one of their games to life online. Good times.

NG: When were you first aware that things were going astray?

I was completely blind-sided. Gamecock reported that my campaign was less expensive and yielding better returns than another similar project for another of their titles. We were developing steady traffic growth – and the traffic was sticky. We were collecting a true viewership, not just random traffic chasing linkbait. I had submitted my first invoice and was soon to submit my second when I was contacted by Gamecock and asked to halt all work immediately. I thought they must have been unhappy with the work, but when I followed up they said it was something else they couldn’t discuss just yet. So I submitted a second invoice for work to date.

The freeze, of course, destroyed the momentum of the campaign. In fact, after the “freeze”, me and my team of subcontractors continued to work for free for a little while – just so that things didn’t fall apart. Then, via a friend, I saw the public notice about the buyout. It was clear at this point that the freeze was permanent. I can still remember messages from followers asking why everything went silent. They were all wanting to know how the story we were building was going to end. My portfolio piece died an early death.

NG: From your perspective, what actually happened with their business?

What I’ve seen in the interviews with Mike Wilson match perfectly with every observation I made. It was basically a firesale to SouthPeak as a result of investor panic. The marketing director had me generate a lot of documentation right after the freeze to clarify what work I’d done and exactly how the invoices related to it. They provided proof of work performed for SouthPeak so that they could do due diligence and pay Gamecock’s debt. The level of stress in the marketing directors voice when I spoke with him on the phone was bone chilling. I’m not really even sure what all those guys went through during the sale.

NG: What’s been the fallout from all this and what are you doing to to try to get your money back?

The fallout was fairly severe, actually. The scope of this project was way to big for just one person, so I was managing several sub-contractors during the process. I collected thousands of dollars in debt to my subcontractors. What savings I had were running out, and with lots of debt and no paycheck, my life fell apart pretty quickly. I’d already gone from my own apartment to a rented room. I ended up having to move out of the room and in with a friend. I had travel plans for the winter, all of which had to be cancelled. Being the end of the year (Thanksgiving / Christmas) and a bad economic time, I was unable to find any other contract work of significance.

Ultimately, I closed up Webcraft and found a full time job. I was fortunate and found a local opening at a very cool gaming company working with online community again. However, paying back the thousands of dollars I owed my subs has made it rather difficult to save any money. The good news is, I should be finished paying all of my subs by December of this year. They’ve been very patient and understanding about my situation. I’m happy to honor the work they did for me. Without them, the project never would have had the success it did.

So yes, I am trying to collect on my debt from SouthPeak. Right from the beginning, I stayed in constant contact with SouthPeak. At first I was told they had every intention of honoring their debt. The language kept changing and I kept getting handed off to different people. I was open to the idea that some of the bad information I was getting was due to confusion. I prepared a lot more documentation – including the extensive and detailed log of every task my group ever performed on the project. (Note: it’s always good to keep work logs!) Near the end of 08, it was blatant and clear that one particular representative was intentionally lying to me. At this point, I was confident that SouthPeak had no intention to pay me. In fact, that one representative accused me of making the invoices up in one email and threatened me in another email. It’s that sort of thing that, when it happens, you start to feel like you want to vomit. You wonder why anyone would treat someone else like this. So, I disconnected and handed all communications over to legal counsel. That was early this year, and we’re still working for a resolution.

NG: Do you know of any other people in similar situations to yourself?

Turns out there are many. In fact, one of the victims I know is a lawyer himself. Although, I do not know if he found resolution. I’ve spoken with a few people who are in the same basic situation I’m in. I know of many more. I’m very curious as to how many of us there are all total.

Recently, I found the following website: http://www.southpeakjustice.com

I’m not sure who runs it, but apparently SouthPeak is building a bit of a reputation. I’ve talked with the site owners, but at this time they prefer to remain anonymous until their legal interactions with SouthPeak are complete. I find myself wondering if this interview itself is risky… but I think it’s important that the truth be published.

In fact, once everything is said and done and I have closure to the case, I will likely open up all of the documents and information I have for public consumption. Maybe it will help benefit someone else – or at least serve as a warning to anyone who’s considering a risky business arrangement with SouthPeak.

NG: Is there anything you’ve learned from all this?

Lots. Next time I have subcontractors working for me, I will collect retainers and bill the client frequently. I’ll probably draw up some form of contract that specifies buy-out situations as this seems to happen in the gaming industry rather frequently. People always say that you should protect yourself legally, even when working with friends. I’m usually very careful and would still trust Mike entirely. However, this is a good example of things that can happen that are beyond the control of those you trust.

I tend to try to flow with things. If I’m able to collect on my debt, it will help out my life situation greatly. If not, I’ll focus on new things. I’ve been writing a brief on a new hybrid concept that’s half game and half social Web application. It’s a crazy concept where the core gameplay is engaging but not particularly violent. My joy comes from building things. Because of the way we’ve built our society, I need money to flow to enable me to do these things… but I gave up on being rich a long time ago. We like to dream about what we would do, if we have the time or money. Often times, when we get the time and money, we find that we didn’t really want to do those things so much after all. It’s important to focus on what you enjoy and find a way to do it with what you have available. If you really want to do something, you can usually find a way.

As Spike from Cowboy Bebop often said, “Whatever happens, happens.”

NG: Thanks very much for taking the time to answer our questions, and we wish you the very best of luck with your new ventures.