Does this invalidate part the criticism of Dangen, or is this more of a case of a coincidence in which this was a match made in heaven between excellent people?
This does not invalidate part of the criticism of Dangen.
And, there's a side case about Ben Judd being an apparent ass with the ladies.
But, do note: all of these attacks on Dangen, and all of this about them not paying developers, and those "anonymous" blogs detailing bad practices, and they "holding games hostage", have all came from a former contractor that worked for them, and the two developers who are now working with her to publish their games/expansions, and it pertains to those two games.
So, you have two developers unilaterally terminating deals, to work with a person who previously worked with/at Dangen, and they are the ones doing all of this negative propaganda.
For me, that's a business dispute. And again, there are places to deal with them.
If things were as clear cut as they paint it, and if indeed they had just cause, they would have released their games by now, instead of doing all of this.
So yeah, I do think it was a match made in heaven, between a company with incompetent people, a contractor/employee who, as it's sadly frequent, tries to steal clients away from her previous employer, and two developers who, as it's easy to see by their posts, clearly don't know how to act professionally, and are apparently intended on burning every bridge with possible publishers.
Dude.
You'd be pissed off too.
Dude.
Don't speak for me, please.
First of all, I would surely never handle this the way this is being handled. If the contract was violated, I would hire a lawyer, to proceed with this through the appropriate channels. That's how you deal with a business disagreement. You don't throw tantrums on social media, and internet forums, you handle things in the proper places.
Second of all, I would never pull the crap he did by updating the game, and essentially causing bother to the people who paid for the game, and who might want to purchase his upcoming games. Burning channels with everyone, including potential clients, is not the way I would surely do things.
And third, he got at least partially paid. He complains that he hasn't been paid royalties for purchases after a certain period of time, which may be true (not unusual when there's a dispute, for one party to withhold payment until things are legally cleared). But, this started after launch, with matters related to the expansion.
It's not the first time you reply to me to defend developers, against paying customers (the last time was for a developer who crowdfunded his game, and has since then released several games, multiple ports, and there's no signs of the game he crowdfunded being released, or even being anywhere close to launching).
I'll ask you: what about the people who paid for the games of both of these developers? Don't they deserve some respect?
And regarding this one, is it right to essentially being dragged into a business dispute, when all you did was spend your money on a game?
Just because he is pissed, does that mean he's entitled to pull the crap he did?