"You can't rewrite the past just because of a bad breakup": Legendary indie devs' feud is going public

The developers behind Limbo, the 2011 game that helped the industry take indies more seriously, have been feuding for a while, and now it's been made even more public thanks to a recent LinkedIn post and a company statement.

Dino Patti, co-founder of Playdead and an executive producer on both Limbo and Inside writes: "My old partner has threatened me with an IP lawsuit because I used a publicly available picture, in a LinkedIn post three months ago, of the game Limbo that we created at Playdead together. Arnt, last time you tried to bully me, I told you I’d make it public."

The Arnt he's referring to is Arnt Jensen, a former IO Interactive developer who co-founded Playdead with Patti and is the director of Limbo and Inside. Patti addresses him directly and claims the "hard truth" is: "You know I was a significant part of building Playdead from the ground up—I know it too. Those first years were a battle like no other. We fought, built, and pushed through together. Without me, Playdead wouldn’t have existed. That’s not ego. That's a fact [...] You can’t rewrite the past just because of a bad breakup."

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Patti is no longer at Playdead. He left in 2016 after the launch of Inside and created his own studio, Jumpship, which released Somerville in 2022. Playdead is working on its third game. Since the split, it seems Patti's role at Playdead has been downplayed, and he writes, "You [Arnt] have a gift. You are a genius. I know you refuse to recognize my role—or anyone else’s. That isn’t just a flaw in leadership. It’s a flaw in character."

Playdead has responded in a statement to Game Developer, writing: "We have found it necessary to take this action to protect our trademarks and copyrights, which are essential to Playdead's business and reputation."

Patti concludes his LinkedIn post with the following plea: "Arnt, please stop the bullying. I will not stop being who I am."

While you're here, check out some of the must-play indie games of 2024 that you may have missed. Hopefully they don't come with as many arguments attached.