We now return you to the Chronicles of Elyria legal drama in progress. When we last left the story, the lawsuit levied against developer Soulbound Studios and Xsolla had been partially transferred from California to Washington. Xsolla had been accused of refusing to grant refunds for per its own terms of use, but the judge sent the Xsolla side of the suit to non-class arbitration in California under the terms of Xsolla’s original TOS, while transferring the Soulbound slice of the suit to the Western District of Washington.
So onward we go. McCathern Law, which represents the plaintiffs here, has explained to the group that the class action is proceeding in Washington and that the California courts are indeed compelling the Xsolla leg of the suit in arbitration as expected – but that won’t proceed until the Soulbound suit is done. The attorneys say they want to “flood Xsolla with hundreds of demands to arbitrate,” but of course, none of this is free. Here’s the attorney comms as posted in the class action Discord:
“District Court in the central district of California ruled that due to the choice of law clause in Soulbound’s EULA contract the class action may proceed but, will have to proceed in district court in the western district of Washington. I already have made my appearance in court there and we are moving forward against Soulbound in the class action.
“District Court in the central district of California granted Xsolla’s motion to compel arbitration. This means that the named Plaintiff, James Falls, claims will need to be arbitrated. However, the Court ruled to stay (put on hold) Mr. Falls’ arbitration until the Soulbound class action is concluded. The court did not rule on whether the entire class needs to be arbitrated.
“NEXT STEPS: I want to flood Xsolla with hundreds of demands to arbitrate. As such, please check discord next week because no later than Friday Sept. 10, 2021, I will post a fee agreement with my firm that I hope each of you will consider signing. This will allow my team to put as much pressure on Xsolla as we can while still litigating the class action against Souldbound.”
Readers will recall that in 2020, Soulbound Studios ran out of cash, laid off the team, and ended development of Chronicles of Elyria, only to pivot a month later and insist the game was still in production with volunteer staff. Backers took it to court with a class action lawsuit against both Soulbound and payment processor Xsolla. The drama has only heated up in 2021, as Soulbound began testing spinoff game Kingdoms of Elyria under an NDA perceived as dodgy; Soulbound did amend that NDA but then locked down the Reddit over alleged “death threats” and announced plans for crypto land trades.
