The Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign for Radlands has ended with developer Roxley Games blowing away their initial goal more than 24 times over, but now the post-apocalyptic tabletop RPG is on hold as an intellectual property dispute is resolved.
On February 23rd, 11 days after the campaign ended, Kickstarter sent a message to all backers to notify them of the issue. “The law requires that we remove the project from public view until the dispute is resolved,” the email stated.
Despite the message assuring backers that their pledges won’t be affected, some took to Reddit to find out what was going on. According to fans, an artist known as Kray Sudderth (Mr_Krayola on Instagram) claimed that he had rights to the “Radlands” name since 2014 when he was working on a similarly themed adventure game. You can find more of his work, including his Radlands art, at his website.
Since trademark law is so interpretive, Kickstarter decided to temporarily remove the finished campaign until a resolution was met.
But yesterday, Roxley Games sent out an email of their own that explained the situation a bit more clearly. “Radlands is completely original and was wholly incepted and created by Daniel Piechnick and Roxley Game Laboratory,” the message read. “We are currently in the process of determining the correct path forward, one of which includes changing the title of the game and Kickstarter page.”
As much of a headache as that sounds, Roxley believes it might be the best course of action for the fans. “We do not want fighting this to in any way delay the delivery of your game,” they said.
And if you are a backer (like me!), there’s no need to worry about your pledge or the game’s release itself. “Rest assured that there is no need to be concerned about your pledge, nor the future of this incredible game. Our team is working diligently to resolve this situation to restore the Kickstarter page as soon as possible. We will do our absolute best to get the chosen plan of our path forward by the end of next week.”
Radlands (or whatever it will be called!) is expected to release in Fall of this year, according to its Kickstarter timeline.
Update: The Radlands Kickstarter is now back online and if you missed it, you can preorder here.
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