JKLM Games Going into Liquidation
UK publisher JKLM Games will go into liquidation by the end of February 2010, according to Spielbox.de. JKLM’s Markus Welbourne has confirmed that news item on BoardGameGeek, writing (after spelling corrections on my part):
Just to try and keep everyone happy, it’s not all doom and gloom, yes JKLM Games has decided to let go, but a new company is being formed to take up the reins, and all games and preorders are still going to be honoured and at present there is no delay with the arrival of the 1860 reprint, Ascendancy (now being called Alien Ascendency due to trade mark issues), and Great Fire of London.
There will be a more normal notice made shortly.
Welbourne signed his post “JKLM Games/Prime Games” with Prime Games having been formed in 2009 to publish John Ede’s Chelsea, which was distributed by JKLM.
JKLM Distribution, which is separate from JKLM Games and mainly distributes independently published games in the UK and Europe, will continue with its operations.
Edit, Feb. 25: JKLM’s David Norman has now posted a more detailed explanation of the goings-on with JKLM’s various divisions on BoardGameGeek: “JKLM Holdings Ltd intends to launch another manufacturing company. This will start by producing those games which JKLM Games Ltd had planned to produce. The rights to these games are held by the designers, and they have agreed to allow a new company to take over the publication so that these games can be produced. When these games are produced, all preorders will be honoured.” However, Bryan Johnson – designer of Huang Di, which JKLM announced as a forthcoming title in 2007 – says that this new publication plan is news to him.
Posted by W. Eric Martin on Feb 25, 2010 at 10:00 AM in Game News, The Industry at Large / 1871
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This is sad news. One had high hopes for JKLM. They are nice people. But it was clear to everybody that all was not well given the protracted issue (or non-issue) of games like ASCENDANCY and HUANG DI. But given this situation I feel it is also sad that JKLM have clearly secured the rights for THE GREAT FIRE OF LONDON, which from its prototype I had high hopes for. It would be a pity if this game too gets locked away as have the other two games I mentioned. Posted by Derek Carver on Feb 25, 2010 at 09:05 PM | #
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I heard about this from a German Publisher last Essen, I am surprised JKLM made it to February. That makes about 30 game companies that I have seen start up and shut down since Winsome began, including Uberplay and Cheapass. The industry has myriad pitfalls. They could be back. I also saw Eagle start and shut down. Now Eagle is back and doing well. You never know… Posted by John Bohrer on Feb 25, 2010 at 10:50 PM | #
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One possible fly in the ointment for these plans - according to the share certificates, in the event of JKLM Games being wound up, Markus Welbourne is not allowed to own or work for any company that produces games for two years without the unanimous agreement of the investors. As the investors have not been asked, it is impossible to say whether anyone is going to object to this. Posted by Keith Thomasson on Feb 26, 2010 at 08:10 AM | #
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Non-compete agreements are notoriously difficult to enforce. Posted by John Bohrer on Feb 26, 2010 at 11:36 AM | #
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As David Norman writes on BGG: ‘In order to explain what this means, allow me to explain the structure of JKLM. JKLM is a family of companies - JKLM Games Ltd is the manufacturing company, making new games. JKLMnP Distribution Ltd is the distribution arm, distributing games from JKLM Games Ltd and many other manufacturers. JKLM Direct Ltd is the direct sales company. And JKLM Holdings Ltd is the parent company that holds them all together.’ I would have expected shareholders to be investors of JKLM Holdings, not JKLM Games Ltd. Keith, are you referring to the Holdings share certs or the Games certs? It looks like Holdings is the only shareholder of liquidated JKLM Games Ltd - unlikely then to object to a itself setting up a new subsidiary! It would appear that the JKLM Games creditors are the real losers. Posted by Richard Breese on Feb 26, 2010 at 03:01 PM | #
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I was talking about investors in JKLM Games. 100 share certificates were issued a few years ag oto raise capital for JKLM Games - something similar was done for the distribution company, and there was an option to buy shares in JKLM Holdings as well. I undertand John Bohrer’s comment, and is something that I was aware of. After all, if an investor didn’t approve of Markus starting up a ‘Phoenix’ company from the ashes of JKLM Games, what could they actually do without pursuing costly legal avenues? Posted by Keith Thomasson on Feb 26, 2010 at 05:13 PM | #
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’Costly legal avenues’ won’t get you anywhere, Keith, as the defense of “I can’t eat for two years?” works admirably in courts throughout the world. Non-compete clauses in contracts drawn up in the last 10 years reflect poorly on the legal staff drafting them. There are always exceptions to everything and spending lots of legal money can sometimes change things. I don’t see any exception here, though. As someone who recently won a legal case where I spent $300 and the others spent $30,000, I can tell you that money doesn’t change facts. Posted by John Bohrer on Feb 26, 2010 at 07:25 PM | #
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