Alex Mochi, the creator of indie hit Rise of Industry, released a video earlier this week claiming he received just $5,000 from Kalypso Media for the IP. But Kasedo Games, the publisher’s digital sub-label and the publisher of Rise of Industry 2, told GamesIndustry.biz the video contains “several inaccuracies.”
In a video posted to YouTube on August 13, 2025, Mochi provided a deep dive into the monetary and personal challenges he believes led to his studio, Dapper Penguin Studios, selling the Rise of Industry IP to the Tropico publisher in 2022.
“Our game made €4 million, it topped the Steam charts, universities taught economics with it, and three years later, I was broke, hospitalised, and selling my life’s work for $5,000,” Mochi said in the video.
“Rise of Industry was my defining moment: my biggest success, and my biggest failure all in one,” he continued.
After starting work on Rise of Industry in 2015, with the help of “a couple of nice guys from Reddit,” Mochi said the game “blew up” on itch.io, becoming the most purchased paid game published on the platform in 2017.
After making it through the (now defunct) Steam Greenlight system and hitting early access, “sales were amazing” and Discord was “booming,” Mochi said, with Rise of Industry selling over 350,000 copies and grossing just under €4 million across all platforms.
“For a while, it felt like we cracked the code,” said Mochi. “But the momentum hides problems, and what I couldn’t see is how fast income disappears.”
In the video, Mochi broke down how that income quickly became “nothing.” He explained that Steam took 30%, so it was “gone immediately,” while the rest dwindled due to refunds (which, he said, is 10-15% for indies), regional pricing, and gray market resellers.
“But the real pain [is] a bad publisher deal,” he added.
“The momentum hides problems, and what I couldn’t see is how fast income disappears”Alex Mochi
According to Mochi, during Rise of Industry’s pre-alpha, the team connected with Kalypso Media, who offered the studio a publishing deal.
“The deal looked fair on paper: $75,000 in advance, with a 50/50 split until they recover $100,000, and then they shift to 60/40 for us,” Mochi explained. “For a new team, fair feels like a win.”
Kasedo Games told GamesIndustry.biz this is accurate, but wanted to emphasise that “this was a licensing agreement in which the developer committed to secure all development funding and asked for a small advance.”
After signing the agreement, shortly after Rise of Industry’s full launch in 2019, Mochi said Kalypso Media “shifted” the studio to its digital sub-label, Kasedo Games.
As a result, Mochi claims “support evaporated,” and the team found the game had “fewer resources, less marketing, and a vanishing reach.”
“I started suspecting: had Rise already served its purpose for them?,” explained Mochi. “In hindsight, it was pretty obvious. Rise was profitable. They recouped and those earnings were funneled towards other projects, like the very successful Warhammer 40,000 Mechanicus.”
Kasedo Games disputes these claims. The publisher denies there was a “shift” from one entity to another.
“The initial deal was signed by Kalypso Media Group (to be published under the Kasedo Games brand label) under the management of Kalypso Media Digital – which was later renamed to Kasedo Games Ltd in December 2019,” a Kasedo Games spokesperson told us.
“The fulfilment and day-to-day management of the publishing deal was by the same team, just under a different name – which was explained clearly to Mochi at the time.”
The publisher also denies that earnings went into Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus, claiming that the game was “well into development and had already gained popularity with media and the gaming community in its own right around the time that Rise of Industry released into Early Access.”
Mochi goes on to claim that, “by the time things slowed down,” Kasedo Games had earned around $1.2 million from the game, while the development team earned roughly $1.5 million.
The developer then went on to explain that, after wages, software, servers, hardware, and taxes, they were left with “pretty much nothing.”
By 2020, Dapper Penguin Studios was already €100,000 in the red; by 2021, this figure was €140,000.
Kasedo Games disputes the figures Mochi provided in his video. Firstly, the publisher claims the game may have made “approximately” €4 million in revenue across all platforms, but “this included sales tax, sales platform revenue share,” and was before any deductions from refunds.
By Kasedo Games’ math, that €4 million in revenue, minus 10% returns, is €3.24 million. Minus a further 10% tax (the average based on worldwide regions), and Steam’s 30% revenue share, leaves €2.27 million.
The publisher then went on to explain that, based on that calculation (and “taking Mochi’s own revenue share figure as being correct”), Dapper Penguin Studios’ 60% share of €2.27 million would be €1.36 million ($1.59 million), while Kasedo Games’ 40% would be €900,000 ($1 million).
“In the video, Mochi mentioned the overheads and costs he incurred,” the spokesperson continued. “This is also the case for Kasedo Games.
“The revenue share was used to pay back the advance royalties, cover all costs for localisation into eight languages, full QA, product management, video and asset creation, PR, marketing, influencer coverage, shows, events, commercial distribution, sales, and promotions, all of which resulted in excellent awareness and opportunities.”
Mochi went on to explain that momentum for Rise of Industry dropped off, so he tried to “hold it together with duct tape and 80 hours a week.”
“I was truly naive”Alex Mochi
While the studio hoped patches would help, “it never stabilised,” and Mochi’s health and personal life were heavily impacted – he even faced losing his home.
“One choice remained: selling the IP, which meant the code, the DLC, the brand, the dream, gone, for $5,000 back to the publisher who made over $1 million, and all without an added clause on that shit contract, which had no recourse.”
“I was truly naive,” Mochi said.
According to Kasedo Games, that $5,000 figure is “misleading” as Mochi didn’t initially reveal in the video that he also received $45,000 from advanced sales. The developer did clarify this in the video’s comments, however.
“The compensation was ten times this figure in a deal which also included advanced royalties that he would have earned from subsequent years based on the sales projections at the time,” Kasedo Games told us. “To be clear, this was nearly four years after [Rise of Industry’s] initial release.”
“Mochi initiated the conversation about the sale of the Rise of Industry IP on a number of occasions,” Kasedo Games continued. “In the first instance, we declined, as buying the IP wasn’t something we were interested in. Only after further approaches did we even consider it.”
Earlier this year, Kasedo Games released Rise of Industry 2, with a console version due to release next month.
Mochi claims that he tried to be involved in the sequel, but “Kasedo’s offer was absurd,” and included no revenue share, minimal creative input, and “laughable pay.”
Again, Kasedo Games claims “this is inaccurate.”
“Mochi did reach out shortly before the announcement to ask to be involved, and this was discussed in detail,” the publisher told us.
“Mochi offered specific ‘testing packages’ in a consultation capacity for a specific level of remuneration (set at his preferred hourly rate). After consultation with the development team, a suggestion of involvement for a period of ten months was discussed with him, based on his requested hourly rate.
“Kasedo’s offer was absurd”Alex Mochi
“Mochi then declined the offer, stating that it did not meet his financial needs and that his schedule was already full.”
Kasedo Games went on to claim that Mochi has “since pitched a game to Kasedo Games” and was “looking for a publisher deal as recently as January 2024.”
The publisher also told us that, in March 2024, “former Rise of Industry team members who are no longer associated with Mochi pitched a game to Kasedo Games for consideration of a publisher deal.”
“I don’t regret making Rise of Industry”, Mochi said in the video. “I regret how I ran it. It’s a source of immeasurable joy and pain.”
“The hardest part wasn’t shipping the game, it was surviving everything around it: all the contracts, the crushing timelines, and the unsettling silence when things go wrong,” he continued.
In a comment following the video’s publication, Mochi clarified that he doesn’t want to “point fingers or drag anyone through the mud.”
“Kalypso/Kasedo played a part in how things turned out, yes, but so did my own misjudgments, poor planning, and unrealistic expectations,” he wrote. “All those factors are exactly the point of this post.
“I had to mention them because they were an important part of the story and gave it context. Without their support, Rise of Industry very possibly could’ve remained a small game on itch.io, and I would never have had the chance to showcase it at places like Gamescom, so I am thankful.
“Also, I don’t believe publishers are inherently evil! I still work with some to this day, and I think most do their jobs well, handling things developers shouldn’t have to worry about. Publishing is more than just contacting content creators or making press kits! When/if I ever get the opportunity to lead another game of my own, I would definitely seek a publisher again.
“I’ve moved on from the events themselves, so this video isn’t about stirring up drama! It’s about sharing what went wrong on my side, so other devs can hopefully learn from it.”
Following the release of his video, Mochi will host an AMA on Reddit on August 15, 2025.
