PR Firm Bites Back, Sues Deadbeat Client

Talk to anyone who runs a PR firm, whether it’s a one person shop or international, and they’ll tell you stories of a deadbeat client.

Kohnke Communications, a California agency specializing in promoting video games and other entertainment work, is suing video game developer Perpetual Entertainment and its principals, saying the client hid their financial troubles and offloaded assets while ordering new work.

Nice to see the agency fight back, instead of eating the lost time and expenses.

Gaming news site TopTenHammer.com describes the alleged chicanery in detail, and Wired picks up on the story.

Says TopTenHammer:

"Kohnke saved its strongest words to inveigh against perceived fraud on the part of Keene, McKibbin, Perpetual, and P2. Kohnke alleges that, as early as September 27th, Perpetual knew that Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising would be cancelled and, subsequently, Perpetual would not be able to satisfy its contractual obligations to Kohnke. Still, as late as October 9th (a day before the [bankruptcy protection] execution) and according to Kohnke, Perpetual asked Kohnke to prepare promotional materials related to a new round of funding. Such actions in bad faith were, in Kohnke’s words, ‘fraudulent, oppressive, and with malice.’"

At the centre of the dispute is a commission that would have come due on the successful launch of the Gods & Heroes: Rome Rising game.

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