Whatever the real story, DP is smart not to be arguing a business dispute on a forum. Normally, professionals hire good lawyers to help settle their disputes. But it looks like these guys were winging it when it came to legally structuring their business and employment agreements. Any good employment or business agreement has a non-disclosure clause to prevent this type of public arguing (or disparagement from DP's perspective). Hard to believe that otherwise smart, talented people play it so loose when millions are involved. Friends and business don't usually mix well. While pinball is on a resurgence, other than Stern, it still seems like the Wild West when it comes to business operations - which probably isn't surprising for this stage of the game.

Really doubt all of this is over a simple matter like removing him from the Company - he apparently owns the US arm of DP without a good contract with DP Holland. You can liquidate a business without arguing your case on a forum. It's easy to understand Phil's frustration, especially given his personal situation, but it's not clear how Pinside is going to help him get results and his comments here could somehow backfire. If you can't afford a lawyer to occasionally provide counsel on running your business and settling disputes, then you shouldn't be involved in a significant business venture. Even though I cringe at what some lawyers charge it's unfortunately the way our system now works.

Hopefully these guys have the personal wealth or can quickly secure some new outside capital to honor refunds and continue to fund the company. Given the state of the game and how well it was received prior to this debacle, they should have a good chance of securing some outside financing or investment if needed. I don't see any way that they will be able to restore enough confidence to rely on pre-order money. The only way to build trust will be to move to production, even if it's a small initial run, and get the games into collectors' hands - in the US. They where smart to quickly hire Roger. Now they need an equally good finance person. I don't care how good of friends they are, you don't establish a Paypal account that only one of the partners can access and give them total control of $100k's. Even if they didn't have a falling out, any number of things could sideline one person.