A couple of days ago, BelowNatural (whom I'll be referring to as Kim) and Razuatix (Jake) signed a waiver of service, basically acknowledging the court summons, and are expected to respond to the case on or before December 7 this year.
I've taken a look at the case a while back when it was new, but never wrote a recap or anything about it. But oh well, better late than never:
Early 2017: Jake and Kim meet on Discord.
2018 to 2019: They work on Roblox games together (Ninja Simulator, then Woodfields) under an informal studio called "Bark Woof."
By June 2019: Kim makes Tower Defense Simulator as a high school project, and it grows to around 15,000 to 20,000 players.
June 2019: Jake offers to help scale TDS in exchange for 30% of revenue. Kim agrees verbally over Discord. TDS brings in about $20K a month, and Jake makes about $200K that year.
2020: Each of them sets up a company to receive payouts: Shirley & Company for Jake, Paradoxum Studios for Kim. From January 2021 on, Jake's payouts go to his company.
Christmas 2020: Jake's workload jumps as people leave the team, and Kim agrees to raise his share to 40%.
2020 to 2021: Jake writes most of the code, about 71% of commits in 2020 and 80% in 2021.
Summer 2021: They both put college on hold and move in together in Tysons Corner, later into a penthouse.
Late 2021: They hire two engineers and talk about turning the partnership into a corporation or LLC. They can't agree, so they keep it as a partnership.
Summer 2022: Kim forms Paradoxum Games, Inc., which he owns 100%. The split changes to team pay first, then 40/60 of what's left.
Late 2022: A dispute starts. Kim asks Jake to sign an "executive employment agreement," and Jake refuses because he says he's a partner, not an employee.
September 25, 2023: Jake gets his last payout, about $92,749.
Fall 2023: Tension builds with Kim and others on the team, including Jay Moncada (Profine).
Late November 2023: They talk about unwinding the partnership, which would mean buying out Jake's 40%, with a target of June 2024. They don't reach a deal.
December 6, 2023, around midday: Kim calls Jake saying it's urgent and asks him to hand over the GitHub account that holds the TDS code. Jake does it.
December 6, 2023, 5 to 6 PM: Kim removes Jake from Slack, Google Workspace, and the Roblox group.
December 6, 2023, 6:06 PM: Kim emails Jake a letter "terminating" his employment, with a separation agreement attached. The email also says lawyers have been hired and audit logging is set up, and it deactivates Jake's office key fob. Jake doesn't sign.
September 18, 2026: Jake sues in federal court in Alexandria, Virginia.
October 8, 2026: Jake's lawyer asks the defendants to waive formal service.
October 15, 2026: Both defendants sign the waivers through their lawyer, Chad Colton.
About December 7, 2026: Deadline for Paradoxum and Kim to answer or file a motion.
So how does this look? This is currently Jake's side only, meaning we don't have any context from Kim yet. But so far, I don't think it's in his favor for him at all. I mean, from an outsider's perspective (which is what the court will be), it looks like a hostile takeover that happened overnight. The fact that most of this is from verbal agreements means they will have to work with what happened in actuality, such as how both of them act, do, etc. With Jake having too many code contributions, his name being plastered on the UI back in the day, it's hard to prove that he isn't a person of high significance for the game, i.e., a co-owner. A lot of people seem to think not having verbal agreements will help Kim win the case, but in reality it's working in Jake's favor.
Funnily enough, this case revealed why Halloween 2020 and Frost Invasion stuck for so long; the team had a bunch of developers leaving, with only Jake as the main developer who worked on the game's logic. So I suppose there's a bit of sympathy points there?
My guess is still the same, though; I definitely think it's going to be settled out of court. Jake gets his money, while Below gets complete rights to TDS, and hopefully Jake is out of the game forever. Dragging or trying to win the case isn't good for Paradoxum's finances, and I doubt they are willing to risk it either.
