Ant Simulator canned, funds spent on strippers and booze, says programmer
It's every indie's nightmare: someone takes the money and runs.
Ant Simulator programmer Eric Tereshinski has resigned from developer ETeeski, cancelled the project, and accused his former colleagues of squandering funding to live a high life.
"I recently found out my ex-business partners were secretly stealing company money," he said in a video (embedded below).
"They had secretly spent the overwhelming majority of both our Kickstarter money and the Ant Simulator investment money on liquor, restaurants, bars, and even strippers. This among many other reasons is the reason why it has become exceedingly clear to me that I cannot have my career associated with these guys.”
Although the scandal has been widely reported as "Kickstarter funds spent on strippers", VentureBeat reports Ant Simulator was privately funded; ETeeski's only Kickstarter campaign was a successful $4,000 effort for "Ultimate gamedev tutorials". It did accept pre-orders through its website, though, and Tereshinski said he'll be reaching out to discuss refunds.
The split seems pretty antagonistic; Tereshinski said his partners threatened to sue when he moved to end their business arrangement.
“I’m very p**sed off I lost money. I lost over a year in work. And I lost a game that I loved and I was proud of and I was really looking forward to releasing on Steam and PS4,” Tereshinski said.
“It was supposed to be my first big step in really taking a shot at making video games as a career. But I have to start over now.”
Oh dang, what a nightmare. This is just one side of the story; ETeeski has not responded to requests for comment on the matter.
You can learn more about the cancelled Ant Simulator on the developer's website.
