- Webzen suddenly wired $2.2 million to Hound13 just before a major whistleblower interview was set to air.
- Dragon Sword is still in maintenance mode, pumping out endless gacha currency, with the future uncertain.
- While each side points fingers, the reality is that mistakes on both ends led to Dragon Sword’s downfall within a month of release.
So, there has been a corporate war going between Hound13, the devs of Dragon Sword and the publisher, Webzen. Now, there’s a new twist to it as after weeks of unpaid leave notices, collapsing live service, and more, as Webzen suddenly transfered the withheld amount to Hound13, right before a whistleblower interview was about to happen. Let’s dive into details!
The contract war between publisher and developer that ruined Dragon Sword
If you’re unaware, Dragon Sword is a open-world action RPG that was first revealed as Project D in 2021. Unfortunately, major issues irrupted between the dev team and publisher, with the later trying for a hostile takeover by demanding a majority stake with their proposed additional support.
That said, Webzen has denied any wrongdoing and says, “Hound13 repeatedly postponed the schedule,” and this “extended development period is what drained Hound13’s funds.” They were even trying to offer further support but Hound13 did a “contract termination without prior agreement.“
Now, as an outsider, it’s not that hard to see how both sides are acting as victims while the game that had solid potential slowly ended. Alsom Webzen did offer a “full 100% refund for all transactions,” as a response to the contract termination, which only meant live service was no longer feasible.
Fans of the game paid the price in the end in between the turmoil
Following this, the game entered maintenance mode, which KR players call Zombie state right one month after it’s launch. And while the dev team still wants to work on the game, I don’t think they can recover after flooding fans with massive amount of gacha currency daily, which may look generous, but the game is basically dead now.
Now that you got the overall context towards this corporate war, here’s the final segment. According to reports by The REGGistry, Hound13’s CEO reached out to GSBG, who’s one of South Korea’s most influential gaming whistleblower YouTube channel and known for with the Korean Game User Association.
As you get the idea, an interview with them would’ve dealt in a big reputation damage or even some regulations. So, according to reports, Webzen decided to suddenly wire the withheld $2.2 million (3 billion KRW) to Hound13.
So, it looks like a temporary victory for both as Hound13 got the money and the interview didn’t air yet, and only us gamers lost. I’m not sure if Webzen tried to sabotage the project by releasing it alongside the behemoth Arknights: Endfield or what, but stay tuned as I’ll update you if any more details arrive.
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