Tollan Universe developer Foretold Studios is reportedly struggling to pay its employees.
According to a report by Game Developer, the problems date back to at least last September, when current and former employees accuse CEO Michael Kuvshynov of not communicating transparently with employees about alleged cash flow problems and actively hiring new employees while owing current ones high wages. and former employees.
Employees who worked at Foretold say they are still owed tens of thousands of dollars in several months' wages. One said they had to “beg” for $200 to cover basic needs, and although Foretold eventually agreed, at first the CEO wanted to pay them in cryptocurrency.
“I had no money for anything. Michael.” [Kuvshynov] he asked me what I needed the money for. It was one of the most humiliating conversations I've ever had, begging for food money owed to me,” they explained.
“He promised to pay everyone and if people wanted to leave they could leave and still get paid. It was hard to believe him and decide what to do – quit and risk not getting paid for a month or work longer in the hope that an investor will appear.”
“[CEO] Michael told me that they have a lot of investors and a lot of money to fund the game, but after only one month of payment [wages]told us there would be a one-month payment delay, which then turned into no payment for several months and an attempt to reduce our pre-agreed salaries,” added another former developer, who asked to remain anonymous.
Former Foretold artist Arkadi Allakhverdiev says they got their first salary after joining the studio in September 2023, but haven't been paid since.
They left in April 2024 and still owed at least $8,700.
“As an independent company, that was not the case [entirely] surprising because there are some challenging starts for small games, so it didn't scare me personally,” said Allakhverdiev.
“Then around the third month [of my employment] we should have had a big drop in investment. Unfortunately it never came and we got next to nothing until I left.'
In response to Game Developer, Kuvshynov said that Foretold has “been struggling to raise funds for the past 12 months, which has caused us to be unable to pay salaries to our team members.
“However, from the beginning we were transparent with everyone about the situation and offered stock options as compensation for their work with us,” the CEO added.
“For those who were not interested in the stock options and preferred to leave, we have agreed to compensate them once we get the money. While they are waiting for us to raise the funds, we are staying in close contact with them, answering all their questions and addressing their concerns. “
However, three separate former Foretold developers dispute these claims, insisting that the studio's financial constraints were not lost on management.