Evil Genius Games Sues Netflix Over 'Rebel Moon' Roleplaying Game

Evil Genius Games--creators of the d20 Modern-inspired Everyday Heroes RPG, with its licensed settings such as The Crow, KingL Skull Island, Pacific Rim, Highlander, and more--was all set to release a tabletop RPG based on Zack Snyder's upcoming movie Rebel Moon until the contract was cancelled by the streaming company over alleged confidentiality breaches. Evil Genius is suing Netflix for breach of contract.

Rebel Moon, which comes out later this year, is a space opera movie featuring a peaceful moon defending itself against tyrannical invaders.

The contract was cancelled back in May 2023, at which point Evil Genius had nearly completed the TTRPG design, with the Player's Guide and GM's Guide fully written and a 'world bible' for the setting created; the latter is an internal developer tool, which other franchises use also.

The termination is based on alleged confidentiality breaches. In addition, Netflix has asserted ownership of the world bible, which constitutes significant work undertaken by Evil Genius. The streaming company did offer to pay for that work--to the tune of $50,000--but Evil Genius did not accept that offer.

Snyder has also indicated that the contents of the world bible would be incorporated into future cinematic and video game properties.

Gizmodo spoke to Evil Genius and has more information. Additionally, Evil Genius has put up a web page about the situation.

I've since received an email from Evil Genius, and they have made a press release:

LOS ANGELES – (Sept. 28, 2023) – Evil Genius Games today sued Netflix for wrongfully terminating Evil Genius’ contract to create a tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) for the widely anticipated Rebel Moon film franchise by Zack Snyder. The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California.

Snyder, the acclaimed director of action and science fiction films, revealed in a podcast in March 2023 that a TTRPG based on Rebel Moon was in the works, lauding the work of Evil Genius’ team of creators.

Evil Genius began working with Netflix in early 2023 and signed an official agreement with Netflix on March 22, 2023, to develop the game and related materials, promising a delivery date to coincide with the film’s release on December 22, 2023. Evil Genius paid Netflix for a license, with an agreement to share profits.

Evil Genius stopped other projects to focus on the Rebel Moon TTRPG, the lawsuit states. By May, Evil Genius had produced a 228-page World Bible (which vastly expanded on the universe envisioned by Snyder), a 430-page Player’s Guide and a 337-page Game Master’s Guide. The initial script for Rebel Moon was “missing background information vital to the story as a whole and to the world,” the lawsuit states, with Evil Genius supplying “all the missing pieces” along with “a cohesive backstory for the entire Rebel Moon franchise.” According to the lawsuit, “the speed at which the project came to fruition astounded Netflix executives, and [Evil Genius] exceeded everyone’s expectations.”

Later that month, on May 25, Netflix suddenly terminated the agreement with Evil Genius, claiming the company had violated confidentiality provisions in its contract by sharing artwork at an industry trade show one month earlier. In the lawsuit, Evil Genius said the termination came as a surprise because it had sent the artwork to Netflix in advance of the event, the Game Manufacturers Association Exposition (GAMA), and Netflix had approved its use. Documents containing the artwork were handed out to retailers at GAMA by Evil Genius’ staff and two Netflix employees.

Two weeks later, Netflix notified Evil Genius that all of its work on the project “belongs solely and exclusively to Netflix,’’ the lawsuit states, with Netflix refusing to honor its agreement with Evil Genius to allow the release of the game and compensate the company for its work.

“It became clear’’ the lawsuit alleges, “that Netflix was simply using the alleged breach and termination to hijack [Evil Genius’] intellectual property and prevent [Evil Genius] from releasing the game.’’

David Scott, Evil Genius’ CEO said the decision to file a lawsuit was not made lightly.

“Our aim is to ensure our team is recognized for their fantastic work, and that we can release this game for millions of TTRPG enthusiasts to enjoy,’’ Scott said. “It’s disheartening to see Netflix backpedal on content that was jointly showcased and had received their prior consent. We urge our supporters to contact Netflix and Zack Snyder to push for the release of this game.’’

Evil Genius is encouraging supporters to visit Evil Genius Games, where they can sign a petition asking Netflix to acknowledge the creators of the Rebel Moon World Bible and allow Evil Genius to release the tabletop role-playing game.

 

[GreyLord]

Which is weird, given how undateable most of us are.

Speak for yourself Whizbang...

I can date my birth, date the time of my first day of school, date of the time I got my first car, date of my first business transaction, date of buying my first house...etc...etc...etc

So, I'm not an eternal like you are...not all of us can be immortal.

 

[Von Ether]

Oddly this is not the first time a whole franchise was built off the back of a ttrpg.

Timothy Zhan was given a box of WEG's Star Wars books as his world bible for the Thrawn Trilogy, which of course is even more relevant a fact with Ashoka just coming out.

 

[DammitVictor]

I tend to doubt that Snyder Wars has thar much if a built in audience: apparently the Snyder Cut of JL was a bomb for Max. Stiff like this RPG would be part of building a fan interest. Letting it come to lawsuits is dumb brand management.

I'm at least warmly fond of Snyder's work (in general) and I am desperate for any kind of high-profile non-Gisnep space opera.

edit: Ain't to say I don't love Star Wars, and specifically Filoni Disney's take on the franchise, but I'd love the flavor a whole lot better if it weren't the only flavor on the menu.

 

[Vincent55]

Netflix thought they could kick the little guy and take his lunch money, but didn't expect the little guy to know kung fu and defend him self well. It appears to ba all documented, so i think Netflix might just hurt itself. I would just keep the material, change a few things and put out a new setting called the moon that rebelled, ;lol

 

[EthanSental]

Our aim is to ensure our team is recognized for their fantastic work, and that we can release this game for millions of TTRPG enthusiasts to enjoy,’’ Scott said

Quote from the article, not Morrus per say but my iPad won’t let me change it….but does anyone think millions of TTRPG people would interact much less buy this book if top selling kickstarters have 81K backers? Seem overly optimistic in my opinion but it does some like they (EG) are getting hosed on this one!

 

[SilentJay]

Netflix thought they could kick the little guy and take his lunch money, but didn't expect the little guy to know kung fu and defend him self well.

Well, that's EGG's version of the story. If you read the filing, it's more complicated than that. What this article doesn't mention, but is mentioned in the Gizmodo article, is that EGG accidentally posted supposedly non-approved* stuff to their website that ended up being shared on social media. EGG's CEO's attitude towards the breach apparently pissed off the folks at Netflix, who decided that it was the straw that broke the camel's back, and terminated the license.

EGG declined the initial offering, which admittedly was insultingly low (it was double their initial licensing fee), and is suing instead. Also, they're clearly banking on creating a stir like the OGL scandal to leverage things in their favour. The fact that they're leaving out details makes me wary of them, though. Both sides, really. I signed the petition, but I've learned things, separate from this story, about the publisher since that make me regret doing so.

*Netflix says non-approved, EGG says it was the same stuff that they approved for GAMA. That said, approved for GAMA doesn't automatically mean approved for the website.

 

[Von Ether]

Didn't these guys, EGG, snag venture capital funding? If so, this is like typical venture capital shenanigans..

 

[Dire Bare]

Yup, another Netflix thing I’m going to avoid.

That won't help Evil Genius Games, and it's not the fault of the folks who actually created Rebel Moon . . . the director, the actors, the writers.

 

[Vincent55]

Well, that's EGG's version of the story. If you read the filing, it's more complicated than that. What this article doesn't mention, but is mentioned in the Gizmodo article, is that EGG accidentally posted supposedly non-approved* stuff to their website that ended up being shared on social media. EGG's CEO's attitude towards the breach apparently pissed off the folks at Netflix, who decided that it was the straw that broke the camel's back, and terminated the license.

EGG declined the initial offering, which admittedly was insultingly low (it was double their initial licensing fee), and is suing instead. Also, they're clearly banking on creating a stir like the OGL scandal to leverage things in their favour. The fact that they're leaving out details makes me wary of them, though. Both sides, really. I signed the petition, but I've learned things, separate from this story, about the publisher since that make me regret doing so.

*Netflix says non-approved, EGG says it was the same stuff that they approved for GAMA. That said, approved for GAMA doesn't automatically mean approved for the website.

Still sounds like to me they are using this as a way to get out of a contract and grab all their work for cheap and cut out the middle man as it is. Evil Genius Games i backed their Kickstarter and am still waiting on their books, i have since moved on to other games and found another i liked better, but have nothing against them. I think them spreading their system around to other games is a great idea, while building off the modified 5e system with a more modern bent. These were after all the same ones who worked on the d20 modern system back in the day or at least some of them. They have licenced many movies under their hood so they must have a good grasp of the legal part, but we will see, i for one stand with the game makers, not the studio.

 

[sigfried]

I just wanted to chime in as the lead game designer who worked on Rebel Moon.

I can't speak to any material facts in the case, the complaint speaks as well to those as any of us could.

But I do want to thank everyone in the community for their support in this. Our primary goal is to be able to publish this game and celebrate the hard work of the designers, artists, and other talents that worked incredibly hard on it under a very challenging deadline. We were all heartbroken when we found out the contract was being pulled from us when we'd put nothing but love and hard work into making it a success.