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Upcoming survival title Ant Simulator has come to an explosive and sudden end.
Lead programmer Eric Tereshinski posted a video on YouTube explaining that he was leaving the project’s development after discovering that two of his partners – who he had known for more than a decade – had blown “the overwhelming majority of our Kickstarter money and the Ant Simulator investment money on liquor, restaurants, bars and even strippers”.
According to Tereshinski, he was wrapped in legal paperwork that left the complete cancellation of the project as the only viable choice.
“My ex-business partners said if you release Ant Simulator without us, we will sue you,” he explained.
"A year and a half ago, I signed an LLC agreement with them. I trusted them and they had been my friends for 11 years.
“That means that resigning, and therefore cancelling the development of Ant Simulator, is really the only option available to me right now."
To avoid any potential legal ramifications, Tereshinski must also remove all videos related to Ant Simulator from his personal YouTube channel. That includes the popular Ultimate Game Dev tutorial series.
He also said that he would contact all those that pre-ordered the game with an email offering refunds.
Tereshinski’s full explanation of the tough situation is below.
UPDATE: Develop has been informed that the Kickstarter money referenced by Tereshinski in the above video refers to his crowdfunding campaign for the Ultimate Game Dev video series, which raised $4,459 – rather than a Kickstarter campaign for Ant Simulator specifically. The game was instead funded by pre-orders offered directly throught the Ant Simulator website. The body of the text has been changed to clarify this.
