The Great Whale Road (historical, turn based, cards, hexes, C&C, management)

[Mustawd]

I wonder why they had to stop selling the game.

Likely because they can't into business. How hard is it to just close the studio but keep a legal entity to collect any revenues of the game and distribute it to the owners of the studio?

They can just put a statement on Steam saying the game will no longer be supported but people are free to buy it if they'd like to.

 

[MRY]

Maybe they sold off the assets to someone else and a condition was to stop selling the game?

 

[vonAchdorf]

I wonder why they had to stop selling the game.

Likely because they can't into business. How hard is it to just close the studio but keep a legal entity to collect any revenues of the game and distribute it to the owners of the studio?

They can just put a statement on Steam saying the game will no longer be supported but people are free to buy it if they'd like to.

Likely not worth the hassle if the sales are low.

 

[Mustawd]

Likely not worth the hassle if the sales are low.

Steamspy shows Owners: 4,934 ± 2,214, which is not nothing. I don't see that it could hurt to keep it in the store. At worst, what, just respond to Steam requests for how much you wanna put it on sale for?

Maybe they sold off the assets to someone else and a condition was to stop selling the game?

That could be a possibility, yes.

 

[MRY]

Likely not worth the hassle if the sales are low.

Steamspy shows Owners: 4,934 ± 2,214, which is not nothing. I don't see that it could hurt to keep it in the store. At worst, what, just respond to Steam requests for how much you wanna put it on sale for?

I mean, you also need to maintain a bank account into which the money from Steam can go, distribute that money according to whatever back-end royalty arrangement you have, handle tax reporting accordingly, etc. It seems like an easier fix than taking it down would be assigning the rights to someone, but who knows?

 

[Vault Dweller]

I wonder why they had to stop selling the game.

Likely because they can't into business. How hard is it to just close the studio but keep a legal entity to collect any revenues of the game and distribute it to the owners of the studio?

It's not that simple. As long as they collect revenues they must file corporate returns (both in Spain and the United States), pay an accountant, probably in both countries, pay corporate taxes in both countries and dividend taxes in Spain, handle all the admin stuff, etc. If they sell a few hundred bucks a month, it's a lot more hassle to stay in business and collect revenues.

 

[Mustawd]

Likely not worth the hassle if the sales are low.

Steamspy shows Owners: 4,934 ± 2,214, which is not nothing. I don't see that it could hurt to keep it in the store. At worst, what, just respond to Steam requests for how much you wanna put it on sale for?

I mean, you also need to maintain a bank account into which the money from Steam can go, distribute that money according to whatever back-end royalty arrangement you have, handle tax reporting accordingly, etc. It seems like an easier fix than taking it down would be assigning the rights to someone, but who knows?

No, that's a valid point. You probably end up spending more time managing that than it's worth.

It's not that simple. As long as they collect revenues they must file corporate returns (both in Spain and the United States), pay an accountant, probably in both countries, pay corporate and dividend taxes in both countries, handle all the admin stuff, etc. If they sell a few hundred bucks a month, it's a lot more hassle to stay in business and collect revenues.

I sometimes forget not everyone is an accountant. Good points.

 

[vonAchdorf]

It's not that simple. As long as they collect revenues they must file corporate returns (both in Spain and the United States), pay an accountant, probably in both countries, pay corporate taxes in both countries and dividend taxes in Spain, handle all the admin stuff, etc. If they sell a few hundred bucks a month, it's a lot more hassle to stay in business and collect revenues.

Don't you just have to submit a W-8BEN if you don't have any business / residence in the US?

I think it's still too much of a hassle if the expected sales are low - and maybe they also don't really like how the game turned out.

 

[Vault Dweller]

It's not that simple. As long as they collect revenues they must file corporate returns (both in Spain and the United States), pay an accountant, probably in both countries, pay corporate taxes in both countries and dividend taxes in Spain, handle all the admin stuff, etc. If they sell a few hundred bucks a month, it's a lot more hassle to stay in business and collect revenues.

Don't you just have to submit a W-8BEN if you don't have any business / residence in the US?

If you're taking money from the good people of the United States, you have to file and pay taxes on that income, regardless of your residence status, unless your country has a tax treaty with the US, in which case file only.