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Transmission Games severs ties with Heroes Over Europe publisher

Redmile Entertainment are in dire straights. The publisher for two games including Heroes over Europe which is in development at IR Gurus/Transmission Games, and Sin City (which IR Gurus/Transmission Games were working on before it was passed on to another developer) has released a document on the concerns of the company and what it must do to stay afloat. One paragraph in the report explains bluntly that if Redmile cannot get an increased amount credit within the next 30 days, it will cease all operations.

The problems at Redmile, other than negative cash flows, is the termination of the publishing agreement with co-publishing partner, Atari, for the delay in milestone payments for IR Gurus/Transmission Games. This breach of contractual obligations has caused the local Heroes over Europe developer to sever all ties from the publisher...

On February 11, 2009, IR Gurus Pty Ltd., the Company's developer for its "Heroes Over Europe" title, sent the Company a termination notice with respect to the software development and licensing agreement for such title claiming that the Company failed to make a payment under such agreement in the amount of $281,000.

The solution Redmile hopes to take is listed below, with the publisher planning to renegotiate a deal with IR Gurus/Transmission Games.

(1) The Company is considering all remedies available under its publishing agreement with its partner for its "Heroes Over Europe" title which may include compensatory damages.
(2) The Company plans to enter into a co-publishing agreement for its licensed Sin City video game which will provide the Company with minimum guarantees on execution of the agreement as well as milestone payments coinciding with the timing of milestone obligations the Company has to its developers.
(3) The Company plans to renegotiate both the amount and timing for payment of many of its current payables and accrued obligations.

With only two titles in development, one of which seems to be cut loose and the other expecting some serious delays, it looks like the future is looking extremely bleak for Redmile Entertainment.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 18/02/09 - 2:48 AM Permalink

Am I correct in thinking that IR Gurus was actually bought by Red Mile, hence the name change to "Transmission Games"?

Either way, this seems to be a reoccuring situation with many developers at the moment, and other businesses around the world. Let's hope that the project can continue, and that the team doesn't suffer too badly because of this situation.

Submitted by souri on Wed, 18/02/09 - 3:03 AM Permalink

Yeh, it's become a bit confusing as to what exactly IR Gurus and Transmission Games are, since it was believed that the previous was bought and renamed to the latter, and here they're referring to the previous company and as a separate entity. :/ I wonder how Mike Fegan (CEO of IR Gurus/Transmission Games) is dealing with all this as he's head of international publishing at Red Mile as well.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Fri, 20/02/09 - 1:58 PM Permalink

The name change was because the "IR Gurus" name had no connection with games so was seen as weak branding. Redmile is just one of Transmission's many publishing partners.

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 18/02/09 - 11:20 PM Permalink

Having talked with Mike at GCAP, I think his ties with Red Mile sort of went up in poof when all this occurred.

In terms of this eventuality happening, Red Mile and Gurus/Transmission went their separate ways out of the way of public eyes for the last 6 months at least, just I think this is the first public announcement.