Chronicles of Elyria Class-Action Lawsuit Transferred to Western District of Washington | MMORPG.com

System · July 2021

Chronicles of Elyria Class-Action Lawsuit Transferred to Western District of Washington | MMORPG.com

In a recent development, it seems the current class-action lawsuit against Chronicles of Elyria developer SoulBound Studios has been transferred to the Western District of Washington.

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HolyAvengerOne · July 2021

I particularly like Kira's take on this :

Not sure what to make of his sources, but that sounds rather unsurprising, especially thinking back to the comment Xsolla's VP of global affairs made on Jeromy's Linkedin post announcing the studio's closure.

It's not the last we hear of the Chronicles of Jeromy.

boris20 · July 2021

So comments allowed on this but not the Blizzard fiasco.

Kyleran · July 2021

The most important part of the order is this is no longer a class action as the arbitration agreement doesn't allow for group arbitration which both parties agreed to.

So now only the plaintiff can pursue the arbitration, likely for no more than the $20K value of his pledge and everyone else will have to pursue their own separate claims likewise.

Soulbound is probably off the hook as well since their EULA clearly pointed back to Xsollas and as it turns out, since Xsollas EULA specifically said no refunds it trump's anything written elsewhere on the website since the buyer was offered a link to it at the time of payment.

It turns out to be totally irrelevant that the purchaser may not have been aware of the contract he was agreeing to, fascinating really.

Great trick that, and probably something both defendents knew about long in advance of this suit.

Clearly the defendants hired much smarter lawyers to draft their EULAs than most realized.

You can probably stick a fork in this lawsuit, nothing left to see here folks unless an appeal is raised.

Vrika · July 2021

Kyleran said:

The most important part of the order is this is no longer a class action as the arbitration agreement doesn't allow for group arbitration which both parties agreed to.

So now only the plaintiff can pursue the arbitration, likely for no more than the $20K value of his pledge and everyone else will have to pursue their own separate claims likewise.

Soulbound is probably off the hook as well since their EULA clearly pointed back to Xsollas and as it turns out, since Xsollas EULA specifically said no refunds it trump's anything written elsewhere on the website since the buyer was offered a link to it at the time of payment.

It turns out to be totally irrelevant that the purchaser may not have been aware of the contract he was agreeing to, fascinating really.

Great trick that, and probably something both defendents knew about long in advance of this suit.

Clearly the defendants hired much smarter lawyers to draft their EULAs than most realized.

You can probably stick a fork in this lawsuit, nothing left to see here folks unless an appeal is raised.

I think you read the no refunds part incorrectly. Based on those court papers it was "no refunds, except..."

But it looks like Xsolla is more or less saved for the time being thanks to their arbitration clause. Even should they lose in arbitration(s), it's likely that only a fraction of Soulbound Studio's customers would go through that route to get their refunds. Especially since the lawsuit has now more or less failed. I think we're at the point where most people will just accept their loss and move on.

Ungood · July 2021

Vrika said:
I think we're at the point where most people will just accept their loss and move on.

What is this move on, you speak of, Gamers don't move on, any game that Me Walsh touches, will get flamed by a very, justifiably angry, mob of gamers.

And any sucker that will give this con man a dime from here out, deserves to get shafted.

Slapshot1188 · July 2021

Kyleran said:

The most important part of the order is this is no longer a class action as the arbitration agreement doesn't allow for group arbitration which both parties agreed to.

So now only the plaintiff can pursue the arbitration, likely for no more than the $20K value of his pledge and everyone else will have to pursue their own separate claims likewise.

Soulbound is probably off the hook as well since their EULA clearly pointed back to Xsollas and as it turns out, since Xsollas EULA specifically said no refunds it trump's anything written elsewhere on the website since the buyer was offered a link to it at the time of payment.

It turns out to be totally irrelevant that the purchaser may not have been aware of the contract he was agreeing to, fascinating really.

Great trick that, and probably something both defendents knew about long in advance of this suit.

Clearly the defendants hired much smarter lawyers to draft their EULAs than most realized.

You can probably stick a fork in this lawsuit, nothing left to see here folks unless an appeal is raised.

I'd like to correct a point here.

XSOLLAs EULA actually did not say "NO REFUNDS" as a blanket. It said that people COULD get their money back for unreleased games up to the point it was received. THAT is the whole lynchpin that the customers case is predicated on. And that is what screwed Jeromey because while HIS EULA said NO REFUNDS, he also said that if a 3rd party's terms differed, the 3rd party's terms would prevail.

What this ruling has done however, is potentially dissolve the class action against XSOLLA and require individual arbitration. I suppose that can be appealed, I don't know. I think for each individual that goes to arbitration, it will be a pretty easy slam dunk to get a payout since it's right in their agreement that you can ask for your money back until the game is released. But if this stands, Xsolla dodged a bullet since only a fraction of the people will bother.

Regarding SBS, it looks like the Class Action could proceed for now, but since there is little money there I'm not sure if the lawyers would want to even bother.

Will be interesting to see how the lawyers respond.

KnightFalz · July 2021

It looks like this collective roar has been effectively reduced to at most a disjointed chorus of whimpers, unless a way can be found to counter it.

Mendel · July 2021

I've always thought it was a mistake to include Xsolla in the class action. The 'refund for unreleased games' clause essentially allows them to refuse payments until the product is delivered. They can always 'believe in the project' and think it will release at sometime in the future, especially as target dates slip.

The culpable party has always been Soulbound.

Now it looks like both parties are about to receive a 'Get out of Jail Free' card. Lawyers. Bleh.

[Deleted User] · July 2021

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Vrika · July 2021

Mendel said:

I've always thought it was a mistake to include Xsolla in the class action. The 'refund for unreleased games' clause essentially allows them to refuse payments until the product is delivered. They can always 'believe in the project' and think it will release at sometime in the future, especially as target dates slip.

The culpable party has always been Soulbound.

Now it looks like both parties are about to receive a 'Get out of Jail Free' card. Lawyers. Bleh.

I think they must include Xsolla because Soulbound doesn't have enough money.

However it looks like their plan to fight against Xsolla's arbitration clause was poorly thought out. I wonder why did they decide to fight against that instead of just taking one claim to the arbitration to test how that would play out.

[Deleted User] · July 2021

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Utinni · July 2021

boris20 said:

So comments allowed on this but not the Blizzard fiasco.

If you saw the comments in the first Blizzard related post you'd know why.

Tiller · July 2021

Utinni said:

boris20 said:

So comments allowed on this but not the Blizzard fiasco.

If you saw the comments in the first Blizzard related post you'd know why.

lol Pay no attention to these randoms and their obsession with the Blizzard debacle. They keep hijacking every thread asking why they can't ****post about a topic that we are trying to move on from. I'm glad MMORPG.com locks them, we don't need this place to turn into twitter of facebook.

As for COE; this issue is more game related and relevant for discussion. CoE is the best example of bait and switch scamfunding. I have no idea how they still have some supporters for this game, unless they are all paid or just really all in. This game would have folded months ago had they not needed to prove something in an attempt to stave off a class action. All they are doing at this point is attempting to long game out the statutes. As soon as they slow or drop development, it's on; hence al the regular fake updates on progress.

Mendel · July 2021

Tiller said:

Utinni said:

boris20 said:

So comments allowed on this but not the Blizzard fiasco.

If you saw the comments in the first Blizzard related post you'd know why.

lol Pay no attention to these randoms and their obsession with the Blizzard debacle. They keep hijacking every thread asking why they can't ****post about a topic that we are trying to move on from. I'm glad MMORPG.com locks them, we don't need this place to turn into twitter of facebook.

As for COE; this issue is more game related and relevant for discussion. CoE is the best example of bait and switch scamfunding. I have no idea how they still have some supporters for this game, unless they are all paid or just really all in. This game would have folded months ago had they not needed to prove something in an attempt to stave off a class action. All they are doing at this point is attempting to long game out the statutes. As soon as they slow or drop development, it's on; hence al the regular fake updates on progress.

Attempting to "prove something to stave off a class action" sorta implies that that $8 million is still around somewhere, doesn't it?

In case your wondering, this is the clearly getaway portion of the SBS game development cycle.

KnightFalz · July 2021

Mtibbs1989 said:

This whole situation is just another of many that have already happened. Moral of the story.... don't support Kickstarter projects unless you're willing to part with X amount of money for nothing other than the hopes that a project will be completed.

This was already well established before Kickstarter was a thing. Funding what may or not be is high risk. One should not devote any more money to such endeavours than they are willing to lose outright as that may very be the end result.

[Deleted User] · July 2021

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Slapshot1188 · July 2021

Mtibbs1989 said:

KnightFalz said:

Mtibbs1989 said:

This whole situation is just another of many that have already happened. Moral of the story.... don't support Kickstarter projects unless you're willing to part with X amount of money for nothing other than the hopes that a project will be completed.

This was already well established before Kickstarter was a thing. Funding what may or not be is high risk. One should not devote any more money to such endeavours than they are willing to lose outright as that may very be the end result.

Of course, but for some odd reason people never seemed to understand the risks of a Kickstarter failing, let alone the potential that a Kickstarter project could have been a scam from the very start.

Pretty sure people were warned of these possibilities when Kickstarter first launched...

Maybe it's because the people who are supposed to be the "experts" outright lie and give false impression in the Kickstarter? Like when they claim the budget required is X and the time is Y. And then at 5 times both they still haven't gotten close to release?

Many of these games were funded many years ago, when people had less reason to question what the "expert" developer was saying. Plus they frequently misrepresent what actually exists, making the final product and the pitch seem much more reasonable.

But I agree, by the time CoE came around people SHOULD HAVE KNOWN that regardless of how many Gantt charts Caspien pulled out of his ass, his budget, date and promised features were bullshit.

[Deleted User] · July 2021

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Kyleran · July 2021

Mtibbs1989 said:

Slapshot1188 said:

Mtibbs1989 said:

KnightFalz said:

Mtibbs1989 said:

This whole situation is just another of many that have already happened. Moral of the story.... don't support Kickstarter projects unless you're willing to part with X amount of money for nothing other than the hopes that a project will be completed.

This was already well established before Kickstarter was a thing. Funding what may or not be is high risk. One should not devote any more money to such endeavours than they are willing to lose outright as that may very be the end result.

Of course, but for some odd reason people never seemed to understand the risks of a Kickstarter failing, let alone the potential that a Kickstarter project could have been a scam from the very start.

Pretty sure people were warned of these possibilities when Kickstarter first launched...

Maybe it's because the people who are supposed to be the "experts" outright lie and give false impression in the Kickstarter? Like when they claim the budget required is X and the time is Y. And then at 5 times both they still haven't gotten close to release?

Many of these games were funded many years ago, when people had less reason to question what the "expert" developer was saying. Plus they frequently misrepresent what actually exists, making the final product and the pitch seem much more reasonable.

But I agree, by the time CoE came around people SHOULD HAVE KNOWN that regardless of how many Gantt charts Caspien pulled out of his ass, his budget, date and promised features were bullshit.

But then we have actual experts who so far have utterly failed on their part too, looking at you MJ from CSE, lol.

Yet even they still have their defenders who excuse every mis-step or folly falling back on weak excuses as if they matter for some reason.

Wish my bosses were nearly so forgiving.

[Deleted User] · July 2021

The user and all related content has been deleted.

[Deleted User] · July 2021

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Mendel · July 2021

Mtibbs1989 said:

KnightFalz said:

Mtibbs1989 said:

This whole situation is just another of many that have already happened. Moral of the story.... don't support Kickstarter projects unless you're willing to part with X amount of money for nothing other than the hopes that a project will be completed.

This was already well established before Kickstarter was a thing. Funding what may or not be is high risk. One should not devote any more money to such endeavours than they are willing to lose outright as that may very be the end result.

Of course, but for some odd reason people never seemed to understand the risks of a Kickstarter failing, let alone the potential that a Kickstarter project could have been a scam from the very start.

Pretty sure people were warned of these possibilities when Kickstarter first launched...

From what has been reported on this site, I believe that SBS only collected around $1 million from Kickstarter. The bulk of their 'contributions' came directly from their own sales, no pesky KS rules to abide by.

[Deleted User] · July 2021

The user and all related content has been deleted.

Kyleran · July 2021

Mtibbs1989 said:

Mendel said:

Mtibbs1989 said:

KnightFalz said:

Mtibbs1989 said:

This whole situation is just another of many that have already happened. Moral of the story.... don't support Kickstarter projects unless you're willing to part with X amount of money for nothing other than the hopes that a project will be completed.

This was already well established before Kickstarter was a thing. Funding what may or not be is high risk. One should not devote any more money to such endeavours than they are willing to lose outright as that may very be the end result.

Of course, but for some odd reason people never seemed to understand the risks of a Kickstarter failing, let alone the potential that a Kickstarter project could have been a scam from the very start.

Pretty sure people were warned of these possibilities when Kickstarter first launched...

From what has been reported on this site, I believe that SBS only collected around $1 million from Kickstarter. The bulk of their 'contributions' came directly from their own sales, no pesky KS rules to abide by.

Oh that's funny if it's true.

Definitely true, big reason why he won't ever open up the books, only a small portion of the funds fall under KSer rules.

Probably could satisfy the requirements by showing how money was spent in the first 6 month and call it a day.

Tiller · July 2021

Mendel said:

Tiller said:

Utinni said:

boris20 said:

So comments allowed on this but not the Blizzard fiasco.

If you saw the comments in the first Blizzard related post you'd know why.

lol Pay no attention to these randoms and their obsession with the Blizzard debacle. They keep hijacking every thread asking why they can't ****post about a topic that we are trying to move on from. I'm glad MMORPG.com locks them, we don't need this place to turn into twitter of facebook.

As for COE; this issue is more game related and relevant for discussion. CoE is the best example of bait and switch scamfunding. I have no idea how they still have some supporters for this game, unless they are all paid or just really all in. This game would have folded months ago had they not needed to prove something in an attempt to stave off a class action. All they are doing at this point is attempting to long game out the statutes. As soon as they slow or drop development, it's on; hence al the regular fake updates on progress.

Attempting to "prove something to stave off a class action" sorta implies that that $8 million is still around somewhere, doesn't it?

In case your wondering, this is the clearly getaway portion of the SBS game development cycle.

Oh I know, I figure the guy is building this with free assets and extra money he would normally spend on trip to Jamba Juice.

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Chronicles of Elyria Class-Action Lawsuit Transferred to Western District of Washington | MMORPG.com

Comments

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV

Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV