Cryptozoic Entertainment, the company behind both board games like the DC Deckbuilding Game and licensed collectibles from various Warner Bros. properties like Peacemaker, Wonder Woman, and Rick & Morty, has come under fire from a group of artists for alleged mistreatment at the hands of the publisher in the form of long-delayed payment and total lack of communication in the interim.
The thread led to many replies and quotes from other artists affected by the alleged delays, many of them also from Brazil. At least 15 artists have spoken up about allegedly waiting on pay from Cryptozoic, were still waiting on pay, or in one case had to hire a lawyer to get their contracted fee. These delays ranged from two months all the way up to half a year. One artist, Namba Harumi, said they had delayed payments way back in 2018 when they worked on Cryptozoic’s HEX: Shards of Fate game.
Speaking with Temura, he told The Fandomentals that while he’s lucky to have a full-time job to keep him afloat, he was counting on the pay from the project to help with some expenses. Other artists he’s spoken to do rely more on these payments to be on time.
“In the case of some colleagues of mine who have freelance as their single income resource it became a bigger problem
they had to compromise on many things in order to pay their regular bills such as rent, health insurance, credit card”
He also added that the contracts with Cryptozoic state that payment will be sent within two weeks of submission (A source has also provided corroborating documents that appear to confirm their story). Many of the accusers believe that their mistreatment is thanks to their location in Brazil, as it’s harder to sue from another country.
Temura later sent an update out on Twitter saying that Cryptozoic had promised artists that payment was on its way, and told us that other artists have said they had a wire transfer on its way. The Fandomentals has reached out to Cryptozoic for comment.
As this is a developing story we will update it as new details arise.
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