Digital Jesters ordered liquidated by UK court

British publisher could face dissolution after losing legal spat with developer.

Yokohama, Japan-based developer KaosKontrol is declaring victory today in its ongoing dispute with British publisher Digital Jesters, as it reports the UK High Court ordered its former publishing partner "wound up"--English legal parlance for "liquidated"--in order to pay off creditors.

"Following up on this order the creditors now intend to pursue further legal action against the directors of Digital Jesters, [financial director] Mr. Terry Malham and [marketing manager] Mr. Leonardo Zullo," the KaosKontrol release states, adding that "administrators will shortly be appointed to investigate the transactions of Digital Jesters, their investors and associated ventures such as 'Myriad Interactive' of Mr. Marco Landi, with the aim of recovering outstanding debts."

In late November, Myriad Interactive (with Landi named as president) was cited as a major investor in the formation of The DJ Group, a new publishing outfit that would produce games under a number of different brands, including Digital Jesters and Monte Cristo. That announcement was quickly followed by an angry rebuttal from Monte Cristo insisting it was not part of the DJ Group.

KaosKontrol wasn't the only one fed up with the publisher by this point. Seattle-based Super X Studios pulled its Wild Earth game from Digital Jesters, and French developer Kylotonn accused the company of a "series of breaches of contract" as it cut all ties and started looking for a new partner to redistribute its first-person shooter Bet on Soldier.

The Digital Jesters Web site is all but gone today, with nothing more than a placeholder logo of the company and an e-mail address for inquiries. GameSpot's request for comment sent to that address bounced back with a short e-mail saying the account was no longer in use, though it gave contact information for product support and online order questions. A spokesperson for The DJ Group did not immediately return requests for comment.

24 Comments

  • BlackOpsAce

    Posted Jun 30, 2006 10:12 pm PT

    $&^@#*&$ JUST MY LUCK

    I had medieval lords and me and one of the game's forum's moderaters were trying to script the game or find a way to get into it's map editor (which was exculded form the game). When suddenly one day the forums were all closed and i was like WTF and then i found this...()$^@$^(@#%$!@#(O

    we were sooo close too

    *cries himself to sleep*

  • regulesblade

    Posted Feb 14, 2006 6:57 pm PT

    This kinda sucks for them

  • Tinhamodic

    Posted Jan 17, 2006 2:56 am PT

    It's sad when any business goes down. As someone said management will always move on to something nice or nicer but the little guys below will struggle.
    Corporate morons.

  • tarasis

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 3:53 pm PT

    Andyf said "Digital Jesters had a reputation for publishing all manner of crap games"

    Trackmania and TM:Sunrise are far from crap.

  • Damnyoutohell

    Posted Jan 16, 2006 9:21 am PT

    hahahhahahahahah flipping loosers......hahahahahahahahahaaha........*breathes deep*....ok.....no wait hahahahahahahahahahahahahaha ok now im down.....

  • rocksteady2006

    Posted Jan 13, 2006 7:03 am PT

    Well looks like someone forgot to take care of their tab.

  • andyf

    Posted Jan 12, 2006 2:36 pm PT

    Damn I'm happy about this. Digital Jesters had a reputation for publishing all manner of crap games.

  • fenriz275

    Posted Jan 12, 2006 9:17 am PT

    Oh ... you have to pay your bills. Well that certainly clears up a few questions. Seriously guys, publishers are always trying to put one over on the developers. Nice to see a developer finally win one. The annoying fact is that the morons who ran DJ into the ground will go on to new cushy jobs somewhere else and do it all over again.

  • -Christhebull-

    Posted Jan 12, 2006 9:07 am PT

    I won't miss them THAT much, but I wonder who is going to pubish Trackmania from now?

  • Mezzomorto

    Posted Jan 12, 2006 4:37 am PT

    pyth0n13, re EA being both publisher and developer, yes they are already

  • willbxtn

    Posted Jan 12, 2006 3:42 am PT

    Captainsmirk, have u ever played a timesplitters or burnout game??? Or anything by Rareware, for that matter.

  • Agent793

    Posted Jan 12, 2006 3:07 am PT

    XD I was wondering what happened to them! LOL

  • pyth0n13

    Posted Jan 11, 2006 9:58 pm PT

    i wonder when ea will decide to become both a publisher and a developer. but then again they might already be just that.

  • KarthikKane

    Posted Jan 11, 2006 5:47 pm PT

    Um DJ is British publisher. As far as I can tell their technical support was mediocre at best. Eventhough they published my favorite WW2 games, I still think DJ needed to improve it's technical support but alas everything came down like a brick wall.

  • nemes1s3000

    Posted Jan 11, 2006 2:13 pm PT

    Good luck to them, hope you guys can get back up again.

  • CaptainSmirk

    Posted Jan 11, 2006 2:01 pm PT

    British Developers suck...

  • AA7

    Posted Jan 11, 2006 1:47 pm PT

    Bet on solider was really bad, you shouldnt play it.

  • real_nimrod

    Posted Jan 11, 2006 1:02 pm PT

    awww, i don't like it when british developers (or, in this case, publishers) go under. Whilst not the biggest games producing country, Brits tend to have nice quirky little touches (hello Timesplitters and anything lionhead) and have made some real classics (same as last brackets). Hopefully we'll soon see EA (evil ars****s they are) die as well...

  • Game-o_O

    Posted Jan 11, 2006 12:55 pm PT

    Can publishers really just take any game off the market and start distrubeting it without authorization :/?

  • Viquist

    Posted Jan 11, 2006 12:49 pm PT

    Sucks for them

  • benotts

    Posted Jan 11, 2006 12:41 pm PT

    Yes, yes pay your bills and keep to the letter of your contracts. There is a reason they have to be signed

  • LordOfMidnight

    Posted Jan 11, 2006 12:40 pm PT

    Being in debt sucks.

  • blackIceJoe

    Posted Jan 11, 2006 12:22 pm PT

    THats nice

  • Donkeljohn Site moderator

    Posted Jan 11, 2006 12:10 pm PT

    Another good example of why it is important to pay your bills and cover your assets.

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