Netflix Sued Over Cancelled Rebel Moon TTRPG

Tabletop RPG publisher Evil Genius Games is suing Netflix over a cancelled Rebel Moon game. Today, Evil Genius Games filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in the Central District of California over Netflix's cancellation of a Rebel Moon tabletop RPG that would have coincided with the release of the upcoming Zack Snyder project later this year. In the lawsuit, Evil Genius states they entered into a contract with Netflix for a license to publish the Rebel Moon TTRPG and developed nearly 1,000 pages of lore and game material for the project. However, Evil Genius Games says that Netflix cancelled the contract for allegedly violating a confidentiality agreement after distributing artwork at GAMA Expo, a trade show involving game manufacturers, retailers, and distributors. According to the lawsuit, the artwork was approved by Netflix prior to the event and distributed at the show using two Netflix employees, but Netflix informed them two weeks afterwards that they were cancelling the agreement and that all work on the project belonged exclusively to Netflix. 

Per the lawsuit, "it became clear that Netflix was simply using the alleged breach and termination to hijack [Evil Genius's] intellectual property and prevent [Evil Genius] from releasing the game." The lawsuit further alleges that Netflix said they could have looked past the alleged breach of contract if not for "certain individuals disliking [D. Todd Scott, the Chief Executive of Evil Genius Games]'s tone and response to Netflix's concerns over confidentiality." The lawsuit also alleges that Netflix offered to pay Evil Genius $50,000 to "basically go away." Notably, the lawsuit does not name Snyder, who previously revealed existence of the TTRPG in a podcast, as a defendent.

Evil Genius Games is best-known for Everyday Heroes, a variation of Dungeons & Dragons 5E made for modern-day stories. Evil Genius has licensed TTRPG games based on several popular franchises, including Pacific Rim, Rambo, and Kong: Skull Island. 

"Our aim is to ensure our team is recognized for their fantastic work, and that we can release this game for millions of [tabletop RPG] enthusiasts to enjoy," Scott said in a statement. "It's disheartening to see Netflix backpedal on content that was jointly showcased and had received their prior consent. We urge our supporters to contact Netflix and Zack Snyder to push for the release of this game."

The lawsuit seeks to either force Netflix to comply with the agreement or alternatively rescind the agreement and allow Evil Genius to reclaim its intellectual property and pay damages to Evil Genius for "bad faith conduct." 

ComicBook.com has reached out to Netflix and Zack Snyder for comment on the lawsuit.