A company that was working on a dancing game endorsed by R&B sensation Beyonce Knowles say they were “destroyed”, as well as being put $100 Million out of pocket, after the singer withdrew from the project. Gate Five, the company which was working on the title, are suing Ms. Knowles (or Mrs. Z, rather) for “a bad faith breach of contract so callous that, on what appeared to be a whim, she destroyed Gate Five’s business and drove 70 people into unemployment, the week before Christmas.” Gate Five claim the game would have made $100 Million and they had already sunk $6 Million into the project by the time of Beyonce’s departure. According to court documents she “made an extortionate demand for entirely new compensation terms she wanted,” which then “backfired and drove away the financier (who found [Knowles] too erratic to do business with), she pulled out of the project in breach of the agreement.”
Apparently, Beyonce’s negotiation tactics were “so unscrupulous that her then manager (who is also her father) renounced them”. According to Gate Five: “In early December everything was still a go. And then the week of Christmas, she said that’s it, I don’t want to hear from you guys, go away, resulting in 70 people losing their jobs.” They continued, “we’d much rather make a game than litigate. But we want to recover damages that Gate Five suffered.”
Dance titles are big business currently, so their gigantic profit predictions may not be so ridiculous.
Thanks to CVG for the info.
