Iam8bit is suing Skybound Games for £2.9 million ($4 million), alleging breach of contract, fraudulent expenses, project theft and alleging that Skybound used iam8bit's trade secrets to get it out of its deal with Stray.
Iam8bit, which entered into a partnership with Robert Kirkman's gaming studio Skybound in 2021, claims that Skybound failed to provide contracted monthly reports and “padded its costs with millions of dollars in false items.”
After Skybound reportedly failed to provide evidence of the positions to a third-party auditor, 8bit filed a breach of contract complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court.
In the complaint I saw Engadgetiam8bit also claims that after developing promotional materials for the launch of Stray, Skybound used iam8bit's materials to negotiate its own deal for a Nintendo Switch port, deliberately excluding the latter while using “near-exact copies” of 8bit's marketing materials.
Iam8bit also claims that Skybound used confidential 8bit royalty distribution information from Annapurna Interactive to exclude him from the deal.
In general, iam8bit is suing for breach of contract, fraud, conversion, unjust enrichment and misappropriation. He is seeking actual and punitive damages totaling $4 million. Neither company has publicly commented on the lawsuit.
