Game Insight did not have enough coins – Newspaper Kommersant No. 154 (7355) of 08/24/2022

As Kommersant found out, employees of the Lithuanian game development studio Game Insight are filing dozens of lawsuits against the company demanding to pay salaries. In June, against the background of hostilities in Ukraine, the studio began the procedure for the liquidation of the Russian division. The liquidator of the company says that there are not enough funds on the company’s accounts to pay salaries, and the parent structure of the Russian Game Insight LLC refuses to transfer funds due to the threat of sanctions. The prosecutor’s office and the Investigative Committee are already conducting a pre-investigation check.

Former and current employees of the Russian office of the Game Insight game development studio (Game Insight LLC) are filing lawsuits against it demanding payment of wage arrears, sources told Kommersant. According to them, in general, we are talking about 70 million rubles.

In the filing cabinet of courts of general jurisdiction in Moscow, Kommersant found 74 registered lawsuits from employees filed from July 25 to August 18.

According to SPARK-Interfax, Game Insight LLC was founded in 2009 by Alisa Chumachenko (she headed SberGames in 2021, and left this company after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine). Game Insight is now owned by the Lithuanian Game Insight UAB. At the end of 2021, the company showed revenue of 1.5 billion rubles. with a net profit of 100 million rubles. Kommersant’s sources in the Russian game development market say that the Russian structure actually acted as a contractor for Game Insight UAB: it developed and supported mobile games (Airport City, Paradise Island 2, Mystery Manor), while the Lithuanian company remained the copyright holder of the product.

On June 14, Game Insight LLC sent an application for its own liquidation to the Federal Tax Service, and already on August 10, the Moscow Arbitration Court accepted a lawsuit to declare the company bankrupt, Pavel Sedov was appointed liquidator. Game Insight game designer Anastasia Surina, in an interview with Kommersant, said that employees continue to file lawsuits because they have not received salaries since the end of June:

“After the first statements, Pavel Sedov contacted us and said that he knew about the lawsuits, but he would not be able to pay salaries, because the company had no funds in its accounts.”

Another employee of the company added that the Lithuanian office continues to receive funds from game sales.

According to Mr. Sedov himself, in June, the Lithuanian Game Insight approached him with a proposal to liquidate Game Insight LLC: “It is assumed that the company has enough funds to pay off creditors, as well as pay salaries. But when I audited the assets of the enterprise, it turned out that the total value of the property, as well as the amount of money in the accounts, did not cover the costs, taking into account the duration of the liquidation procedure.

Lawyers of the parent company explained that, taking into account the sanctions restrictions from Lithuania, payments to the Russian subsidiary are impossible, added Mr. Sedakov.

He noted that “the prosecutor’s office and the investigative committee are conducting a pre-investigation check on the grounds of Art. 145 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (non-payment of wages).

According to Lyudmila Makarova, Amulex.ru lawyer, if the company is declared bankrupt, employees can wait for years to pay their salaries: “In the absence of property and payments, the presence of subsidiary liability of LLC participants for its obligations should be considered.” According to two Kommersant sources in the game development market, as well as two employees of Game Insight LLC, Igor Matsanyuk is the ultimate owner of the LLC. Kommersant contacted Mr. Matsanyuk, but he declined to comment.

Independent game development expert Alexander Zezyulin calls the situation when a large developer company comes into conflict with employees and stops paying salaries, non-standard: “Most likely, other developers who left Russia offer to move abroad, to Armenia, Kazakhstan, Georgia with a pay cut Or is it about remote work? PvP.Tools developer Vasily Ovchinnikov believes that it will be difficult for employees of closing studios to find work in the Russian Federation: “Small studios that have projects continue to operate in the country, but so far there are neither resources nor an understanding of how to sell products against the backdrop of restrictions on distribution platforms” .

Nikita Korolev