Lace Mamba Acknowledge Reporting & Accounting Issues

Lace Mamba Global have informed RPS that they recognise that there have been some issues with their reporting and accounting, involving certain indie developers. Last night we mentioned an open letter written by a number of European indie developers, accusing Lace Mamba of non-payment, contract violations, and some rather peculiar claims about the business. We approached Lace Mamba for a comment, and they've gotten back to us this afternoon, primarily focusing on the confusion over the apparently two separate companies, distancing themselves from Jason Codd and Mamba Games, and stating that they "recognise that Mamba Games pre-existing contractual obligations are not being met." They also acknowledge that there have been issues with "reporting and accounting", and that they are working hard to resolve them, and to "regain the trust of the games industry".

As you'll see below, this really does seem to come down to a real muddle of two companies, who had been acting as one, but still behaving independently. The larger issue appears to be that none of the indies who signed up to Lace Mamba seemed to know this at the time of signing their contracts. What was previously Lace International now seems to be quite blatantly distancing itself from what was previously Mamba Games, despite Lace Mamba Global still seeming to be a thing. They say,

"Lace Mamba Global recognise that Mamba Games (Jason Codd) pre-existing contractual obligations are not being met and we will do all we can to help developers to ensure Mamba Games are held to account."

We've contacted Jason Codd to hear his side of the story, but as with the many indie developers who are trying to get hold of him, we've heard nothing back. Here's Lace Mamba Global's surprisingly frank statement:

In January of 2010 Mamba Games Ltd, an existing company, run by Jason Codd and Robert Neilson, formed a partnership with Adam Lacey of Lace International, with the intention of forming a new games company, Lace Mamba Global Ltd. This partnership was widely reported in the media at the time. As this was a partnership deal, Mamba Games Ltd continued to trade as a company in its own right, retaining its pre-existing contracts that were signed prior to the formation of Lace Mamba Global.

Mamba Games sub-licensed some of its pre-existing contracted product to Lace Mamba Global for distribution in the UK and Eire. Where Mamba Games product has been sold to other territories, this was done directly by Mamba Games, selling Lace Mamba Global branded product to international distributors for which Mamba Games were paid directly. Lace Mamba Global recognise that Mamba Games (Jason Codd) pre-existing contractual obligations are not being met and we will do all we can to help developers to ensure Mamba Games are held to account.

As per our previous statement, Lace Mamba Global also recognise that there have been some reporting and accounting issues in the past which we are actively working to resolve. We are pleased that those companies who we have been working closely with over the past few days have acknowledged that we have resolved their outstanding issues and we continue to work with and contact our other partners to ensure all of Lace Mamba’s contractual obligations are being met in full.

Lace Mamba Global are committed to regaining the trust of the gaming industry, we value our partnerships and will endeavour to resolve all the issues currently facing us. We would like to thank all developers for their continued patience while we review our contracts and report accurately.

Lace Mamba Global would like to state that we will not publicly discuss individual contracts or issues out of respect for confidentiality.

We're contacting the indie developers involved to find out their response to this statement.