Trouble in MMORPG land; PR Agency Sues Developer

Gaming specialist agency Kohnke PR is suing client Perpetual Entertainment for around $10,000 in outstanding invoices, and upwards of $280,000 in bonus pay based on performance.

Kohnke’s work for the financially troubled Perpetual was for its MMORPG game in development, Gods & Heroes. The big bonus is for favorable reviews of the game, which begs the question: How can you get a game reviewed that’s not finished?

We’re contacting industry sources to find out more about what constitutes successful influence for a pre-launch, and to find out if this arrangement is common in game PR.

MMO site TenTonHammer landed the scoop, followed by a scan of the legal docs in ShackNews.

1Up and a few other sites are mentioning the recent firing of Jeff Gerstmann from Gamespot in their coverage of Kohnke as a sign of a PR having too much influence. According to some reports, he was dismissed for writing a negative review of a game with big ad buy on the site. There are currently 11 Facebook groups celebrating and supporting Gerstmann.

(disclosure: I did some publicity work for Gamespot’s editors from 2003 to 2006, including Gerstmann)

Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.