Petersen Games sues PayPal for holding money.
Petersen Games sues PayPal for holding money.
Having read about Patrick Leder's issues with Paypal not releasing money from the Vast Kickstarter, I'm hoping that this lawsuit causes Paypal to relook how it deals with its risk assessment of board game crowdfunding, or at least encourages others, (like Vast's creators) to also hold Paypal to account for its behavior.
That is quite optimistic. $60K is pocket change for PayPal.
Paypal dropped it's consumer protection for crowd funding earlier this year.
Kickstarter hasn't allowed backers to pledge using Paypal in several years.
I agree. I would have offered a good attorney reference but Patrick says they've reached an agreement.
As an expert in Bird Law, after reading that single blurb I can say with 100% certainty that they don't have a case :33.
I remember that PayPal starting holding back money from video game and software developers a couple years ago. They demanded that the creator provide a business plan, an exact timeline, and even a proof of concept prototype. Now, PayPal is known for being strong on consumer protection (why they got big on eBay), so I am sure it has nothing to do with the fact that they are getting an interest free loan that they only have to pay back once the creator jumped through a bunch of hoops.
If I remember correctly, the video game fan base made a big stink about it and PayPal promised to never do it again. I guess they assume that the board game hobby is big enough to make taking our money worth it, but niche enough to not get much publicity. At this point, the blame should probably rest on Kickstarter to find a better way to move money.
It's the most convenient way to send money to complete strangers as I'm not comfortable with sharing my account number and sort code with random people buying games off me on Facebook.
That said after they held my account hostage I emtpy it as soon as the money arrives
Not that I'm arguing that PayPal is a crap company, but that's pretty much standard practice for any company. In this case, you were the merchant. When there is a charge back, the merchant is the one who get's the shaft.
The article says Video games, but all of the games Petersen has made are board/card games of one stripe or another.
Much like Warren Spector and many others, Sandy Petersen worked in the digital game industry for some years as well.
The article states that:
It also says he spent over two decades in the industry as a designer on teams that produced “Civilization,” “Doom,” “Quake,” the “Age of Empire” series and “Halo Wars.” The company says Petersen returned to tabletop gaming with the famed “Cthulhu Wars” strategy game.
My mind was blown when I found out that the Call of Cthulhu Sandy Petersen was the same Sandy Petersen that made all my favorite levels for Doom 1 and Doom 2 when I read the book Masters of Doom.
Yeah, that was definitely a typo (or just bad reporting).
Came here to say this. PayPal does not want to set a precedent, so they'll just settle. Which I guess is fine, because Petersen will get the money, plus some extra for damages.
Wait. Ok someone tell me if I'm wrong. paypal has nothing to do with kickstarter. Kickstarter is owned by Amazon, and they're the ones that transfer the funds. Some Kickstarters will allow pledges to be made THROUGH paypal but that's an entirely separate action (like you just send them money through paypal)
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