Six founders of the game studio Neon Machine behind Shrapnel have filed a lawsuit in the Delaware Court of Chancery against Cort Javarone, CEO of 4D Factory Investment Company, Steve Horowitz, a 4D shareholder, and Scott Honour, of private equity firm Northern Pacific Group, alleging that these investors are attempting to take control of the company's shareholders and loot its coffers.

The Neon founders who filed the lawsuit include Chief Technology Officer and studio head Don Norbury, Chief Creative Officer Colin Foran, Chief Operating Officer Aaron Nonis, Chief Marketing Officer Mark Yeend, Business Development Manager Naomi Lackaff, and former CEO Mark Long, who is said to have been fired.

According to Law360, Javarone appointed himself as Neon's CEO on November 13th and removed former CEO Long from the studio's board. However, Long posted on X platform that he still holds the position of CEO.

Neon executives claim that Javarone is trying to take over their studio and has violated contractual promises to new investors. (Decrypt)

In October, it was reported that game development studio Neon Machine had completed a $20 million Series A funding round, led by Polychain Capital and with participation from Griffin Gaming Partners, Brevan Howard Digital, Franklin Templeton, IOSG Ventures, and Tess Ventures.

Neon Machine will use the funding to further develop its shooting game Shrapnel. The game team plans to release a preview version in December of this year and fully launch the game in 2024. The Shrapnel team currently has 70 employees.